Please suggest an alternative to Flagyl.

Question

Hi doctor,

I have a dental abscess from an impacted wisdom tooth. The abscess has occurred on three occasions before. The x-ray showed an impacted bottom wisdom tooth that is, partial bony horizontal impacted third molar. The pain is sharp and radiates toward the front teeth and some pain behind the ear. Currently, I am on a regimen of Augmentin 625 mg twice daily for five days and Ibuprofen 400 mg. My dentist recommended Flagyl, but I am allergic to it. I am getting nausea and hives throughout treatment. Is there an alternative for it?

Please suggest.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

A wisdom tooth infection is not an infection of the tooth, but an infection of the gum around the tooth. Infection in wisdom teeth is very common if it is not coming out correctly in the mouth. The first thing most people notice is that the gum is a bit sore over the wisdom tooth. It feels like they bit on something hard and grazed the gum a bit. They usually do not take much notice at this early stage. The next sign of wisdom teeth infection is a swollen gum. The gum around the tooth becomes puffy and starts to swell up. Sometimes only a little, but other times a lot. The gum will also get quite red and inflamed, although this can be hard to see. If you have swollen gums with pus, we give antibiotics.

An alternative to Metronidazole is Clindamycin 300 mg three times a day after food. If the problem is not so severe, then Amoxicillin is enough to take care of the problem. To prevent any complications regarding antibiotics, keep yourself hydrated as much as you can during the medicine course and add curd to your diet. It will help to avoid stomach problems as yogurt has lactobacillus in it and helps in preventing stomach irritation. Also, do warm saline rinses as much as you can. If this problem is reoccurring, then the tooth needs to be pulled out.

I hope this helps.

Thank you.