What are some home remedies to reduce swelling from an abcess tooth?

A hot water bag/bottle helps as well, he can hold it against his ear.. My father gets abscesses really often and it seems to help relieve the pain.

I think what his mother meant is to heat up teabags and place them on the tooth to help the discomfort.

sorry I meant tooth, not ear.

Oh and then a painkiller containin, ibuprofen and paracetamol will be a lot more effective to help for the pain.

the best treatment for any bacteria in the mouth area would be the old fashioned ichy salt water…its been around for generations, has worked on every mouth irritation, any inflammation on gums, tonsils & all sorts of sores to reduce swelling and any bacteria.

Take a glass of room temperature water(not hot not cold) dissolve a half of a tea spoon of salt & mix well…DO NOT SWALLOW! :) all you do is swish from side to side then spit…till you have finished the glass of water. Try that for 24-48 hours doing it 3x a day if it consists, it just may be something more then meets the eye & should be looked at by a dentist immediately!

I read this on line…if it goes untreated & i copy pasted it for you to read!

Untreated consequences: If left untreated, a severe tooth abscess may become large enough to perforate bone and extend into the soft tissue eventually becoming osteomyelitis and cellulitis respectively. From there it follows the path of least resistance and may spread either internally or externally. The path of the infection is influenced by such things as the location of the infected tooth and the thickness of the bone, muscle and fascia attachments.

External drainage may begin as a boil which bursts allowing pus drainage from the abscess, intraorally (usually through the gum) or extra orally. Chronic drainage will allow an epithelial lining to form in this communication to form a pus draining canal (fistula). Sometimes this type of drainage will immediately relieve some of the painful symptoms associated with the pressure.

Internal drainage is of more concern as growing infection makes space within the tissues surrounding the infection. Severe complications requiring immediate hospitalisation include Ludwig’s angina, which is a combination of growing infection and cellulitis which closes the airway space causing suffocation in extreme cases. Also infection can spread down the tissue spaces to the mediastinum which has significant consequences on the vital organs such as the heart. Another complication, usually from upper teeth, is a risk of septicaemia (infection of the blood), from connecting into blood vessels, brain abscess, (extremely rare) or meningitis, (also rare).

Depending on the severity of the infection, the sufferer may feel only mildly ill, or may in extreme cases require hospital care.

Treat with antibiotics (possibly amoxil) to get on top of the bacteria.[citation needed]

An old name for this ailment is ‘Gumboil’ and could well have been fatal for sufferers in the years before antibiotics, especially considering the lack of emphasis on oral hygiene and the crudity of dentistry in Victorian times.

hope this helped.