Abscess & Emergency Tooth Care in Torrance, CA

You’re Up at 2 AM Holding Your Face. Let’s Fix That.

Here’s how it usually goes. You’ve had a dull ache in a back tooth for a few days — maybe a week. You figured it’d go away. Then one night it doesn’t just ache. It throbs. It pounds with your heartbeat. Your cheek is swelling. You can taste something foul in your mouth. And suddenly you’re Googling “tooth abscess emergency Torrance” at two in the morning because you can’t take it anymore.

If that’s you right now, call us at (310) 378-8342. We see emergency abscess patients the same day. Dr. Jason Phan has treated thousands of abscessed teeth right here in Torrance, and most people feel dramatic relief the same afternoon they walk through our door.

But if you’ve got a few minutes and want to know what’s actually happening inside your mouth — and what we’re going to do about it — keep reading.

What Is a Tooth Abscess, Really?

Let’s keep this simple. A tooth abscess is a pocket of pus that forms because of a bacterial infection. It usually shows up at the very tip of the tooth’s root — down in the bone of your jaw.

Here’s how it happens. Bacteria get inside the tooth. Maybe through a deep cavity. Maybe through a crack you didn’t even know about. Maybe from old dental work that started to break down. Once bacteria reach the soft tissue inside your tooth (that’s the pulp — the nerve and blood supply), they set up shop. Your body tries to fight back, and that fight creates pus. That pus has to go somewhere, so it builds up at the root tip and starts pushing into the surrounding bone and tissue.

That’s the pressure. That’s the throbbing. That’s why it hurts so bad you can’t sleep.

There are actually a few types of dental abscesses. A periapical abscess forms at the root tip — this is the one we treat most often. A periodontal abscess starts in the gum tissue next to the root. Sometimes both happen at the same time, which we call an endo-perio lesion. Regardless of the type, the problem is the same: trapped infection that your body can’t clear on its own.

Warning Signs You Might Have an Abscess

Not every toothache is an abscess. But there are some pretty clear signs that yours might be.

The gum pimple is a big one that people often miss. It’s called a fistula — it’s your body creating a drain for the pus. Sometimes when the fistula opens, the pain actually drops for a while. People think that means it’s healing. It’s not. The infection is still there. It just found an exit.

If you’ve got two or more of these signs, don’t wait. Especially if there’s swelling. That means the infection is spreading beyond the tooth.

Why This Is a Real Emergency (Not Just Bad Pain)

Dr. Phan is pretty direct with patients about this: a tooth abscess is not something you can ride out.

Yes, it hurts. But the pain isn’t even the biggest worry. The real danger is where the infection can go. A dental infection can spread from the root tip into the jawbone. From the jaw, it can track into the spaces of the neck. In rare but real cases, it reaches the chest or crosses into the brain.

There’s a condition called Ludwig’s angina where a dental infection spreads to the floor of the mouth and throat. It can close off your airway. People end up in the ICU. There are cases every year — right here in Los Angeles County — where people die from dental infections that started as a simple abscess they tried to ignore.

That’s not said to scare you. It’s said because Dr. Phan has seen patients walk in from Redondo Beach, Gardena, and other South Bay cities who waited way too long. A problem that would have been a straightforward root canal turns into a hospital admission. Don’t be that person.

What Happens When You Call Us With an Abscess

Here’s the honest play-by-play of what your emergency visit looks like at our Torrance office.

Antibiotics: Helpful But Not the Fix

Let’s talk honestly about antibiotics, because there’s a lot of confusion here.

If you go to urgent care or the ER with a tooth abscess, they’ll give you antibiotics and pain meds. And that’s fine as a temporary measure. Antibiotics can slow the infection down and keep it from spreading while you get proper treatment.

But here’s what antibiotics can’t do: they can’t reach the dead tissue inside your tooth. The pulp tissue that’s infected has no blood supply anymore — that’s the whole problem. Antibiotics travel through your blood. If blood can’t reach the infected area, neither can the drug.

We do prescribe antibiotics as a support tool when needed. If the infection has spread beyond the tooth into the surrounding tissue, or if there’s significant facial swelling, antibiotics help your body get the upper hand. But they’re always paired with treatment that addresses the actual source.

Can the Tooth Be Saved? Here’s How We Decide

This is the question everyone asks: “Am I gonna lose this tooth?”

The honest answer is — most of the time, no. We can save it. Dr. Phan’s approach is always to save the natural tooth when it makes sense. And with an abscess, it usually does.

Here’s what we look at:

The tooth can usually be saved if:

• There’s enough healthy tooth structure left for a crown
• The root isn’t fractured vertically
• The bone around the tooth, while infected, is still intact enough to support it
• The infection, even if it’s big on the CBCT scan, is at the root tip (periapical)

Extraction may be the better call if:

• The tooth has a vertical root fracture — that’s a crack running up and down the root. There’s no reliable way to fix that.
• Decay has destroyed the tooth below the bone level
• There’s so much bone loss that even after clearing the infection, the tooth won’t be stable
• The tooth has already had multiple failed treatments

Dr. Phan is straight with patients about this. If a tooth can be saved, he’ll save it. If it can’t, he’ll tell you and explain your replacement options. No sugarcoating.

Here in our Torrance office, over 90% of abscessed teeth that come through our door end up being saved with root canal treatment. Those are good odds.

What CBCT Imaging Shows That Regular X-Rays Miss

We already mentioned the CBCT scanner, but it deserves its own section because it changes everything about how we handle abscesses.

A regular dental X-ray compresses a 3D structure into a flat image. It’s like trying to judge the size of a room by looking at a photograph of the door. You get some information, but you miss a lot.

CBCT gives us a full 3D view. We can rotate the tooth on screen, slice through it layer by layer, and see:

• Exactly how big the abscess is — sometimes what looks small on an X-ray is actually huge when you see it in 3D
• Whether the infection has spread to nearby teeth — this happens more often than people realize
• The relationship to anatomy — like the sinus cavity above upper teeth, or the nerve that runs through the lower jaw
• Hidden fractures — cracks in the root that would change the treatment plan completely
• Extra canals — some teeth have anatomy that standard X-rays just can’t show

For a patient coming in from Carson, Lomita, or anywhere in the South Bay with a swollen face, this scan takes about 15 seconds and gives Dr. Phan information that might take 30 minutes of guesswork without it.

Sedation for Emergency Patients — You Don’t Have to White-Knuckle It

We get it. You’re already in pain, you’re stressed, and now someone’s telling you they need to work on the tooth that’s been torturing you for days. That’s a rough situation.

Dr. Phan offers three levels of sedation:

For most emergency abscess patients, nitrous oxide or oral sedation is enough. But if you’re someone who has avoided the dentist for years because of fear — and that’s partly how the abscess got this bad in the first place — IV sedation might be the way to go. No judgment here. We just want you comfortable and treated.

What Happens If You Ignore an Abscess

Some people try to tough it out. Or they take a round of antibiotics and feel better and cancel their follow-up. Here’s what happens when you do that.

The infection doesn’t go away. It goes quiet for a while, maybe. The pain dies down. But the bacteria are still in the tooth. The abscess is still there. And it’s slowly eating away at the bone around the root.

Over weeks and months, this is what the progression looks like:

Dr. Phan has seen all of these scenarios play out. The earlier you come in, the simpler and cheaper the fix. That’s not a sales pitch — that’s just how infections work.

Recovery After Abscess Treatment

People want to know: how long until I feel normal again? Here’s what to expect.

Day of treatment: Most patients feel a whole lot better within hours of the drainage and root canal. The throbbing pressure pain is gone. You’ll be numb for a few hours after. Stick to soft foods.

Days 1-3: Some soreness in the tooth and gum area is normal. This is healing soreness, not infection pain — it feels different and it’s much more manageable. Over-the-counter ibuprofen handles it for most people. If we prescribed antibiotics, keep taking them for the full course.

Days 4-7: Most people are back to eating normally. The gum tissue where the abscess drained is healing. If you had an incision for drainage, it closes up on its own.

Weeks 2-4: Time to go back to your regular dentist for a crown on the tooth. This is a step people skip, and it’s a mistake. A root canal-treated tooth without a crown is fragile. It can crack and then you really do lose it.

Months 2-6: The bone that was destroyed by the abscess starts regenerating. On follow-up X-rays, we can watch the dark shadow (that was the abscess) filling in with new bone. It’s actually one of the most satisfying things to see in this field.

What to Do Right Now If You Think You Have an Abscess

If you’re in Torrance or anywhere in the South Bay — Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes, Gardena, Carson, Lomita, Harbor City — here’s your game plan:

Why Patients From All Over the South Bay Come Here for Emergencies

There are a lot of dentists in Torrance. There are very few endodontists. Dr. Phan is a specialist — he did two additional years of training beyond dental school focused specifically on the inside of the tooth, infections, and pain management. He does this all day, every day.

When your regular dentist refers you to our office, this is why. They know that a specialist with a microscope, a CBCT scanner, and years of focused experience is going to give you the best shot at saving that tooth and getting you out of pain fast.

General dentists in Torrance, Redondo Beach, and across the South Bay send us their toughest cases. The patients other offices aren’t sure how to handle. The teeth that are borderline between saving and pulling. Dr. Phan has the tools and the experience to make those calls accurately.

And when it’s an emergency — when you’re in serious pain and the clock is ticking — that experience matters more than ever.

Schedule Your Emergency Visit

Don’t sit with the pain. Don’t do another round of antibiotics and hope for the best. Call (310) 378-8342 right now. Our team will get you in today, Dr. Phan will figure out exactly what’s going on, and you’ll leave feeling better than you have in days.

We’re right here in Torrance, serving the entire South Bay. Same-day emergencies are what we do.

Your tooth is probably saveable. Let’s not wait until it isn’t.