What does it mean when the gum and the mouth are very swollen?

someone in a family needs a root canal. It is very infected and the dentist gave her medicine to take before they operate next week. She has been taking the pills from her dentist for three days now and her whole right side of her mouth is swollen. Its huge and she dosn't know what the dentist was doing because the swelling wasn't this bad before she took it. Now it her ride gum, cheek, and lip are swollen.


The dentist gave her clindamycin hcl and vicodin.


What is the dentist trying to do and is this a normal symtom of the medicine, will the swelling go down?

What does it mean when the gum and the mouth are very swollen?
Clindamycin HCl is a strong antibiotic. The dentist was trying to get rid of the infection and the pain (vicodin). However, the medication simply is not working. A dental abscess is an infection of the mouth, face, jaw, or throat that begins as a tooth infection or cavity. Pus collects at the site of the infection and will become progressively more painful until it either ruptures and drains on its own or is drained surgically.Sometimes the infection can progress to the point where swelling threatens to block the airway, causing difficulty breathing. Dental abscesses can also make you generally ill, with nausea, vomiting, fevers, chills, and sweats. She needs to see the dentist very soon as the infection needs to be drained.
Reply:this is normal for the abcess, not the meds. The family member needs to go back to the dentist to address this, as the meds they are currently taking is not killing the infection.
Reply:sounds like infection has set in. The dentist did the right thing giving antibiotics and pain killers... he saw this coming.


symptoms are from the tooth not the med's
Reply:you best to get her to a er. it should not be getting bigger if he gave her antibiotics. her/his system is poisoned and need to be kept under watch and that vicodin is masking **** so u better scurry on off to the er just to be sure.
Reply:yup that's an abcess or pocket of puss. It will more than likely need to be drained with an antibiotic pack placed to rid the infection. They will want this taken care of asap because it slowly drains pus into the mouth and it gets swallowed passing the infection on to other parts of the body. It was nothing the meds did. They may need to delay the root canal for another visit as the infection should be cleared up first. Good luck!
Reply:The dentist was dealing with pain and infection. The swelling is caused by infection from the rotten tooth. It is the body's way of dealing with the garbage. Removal of the offending matter is the solution. The dentist was prescribing drugs for the comfort and health of the patient until the time of removal.