Case of the Month

Angel is a 13 year old female dachsund with a history of oral disease. She presented to our clinic for an acute onset of severe facial swelling just below her left eye.

The swelling was slightly painful and Angel resisted attempts at oral examination. Her owner also reported that she was eating less voraciously over the last 48 hours.

We were suspicious of a tooth root abscess but, given Angel’s age, couldn’t rule out the possibility of a tumor. We performed bloodwork prior to anesthetizing Angel and then took some oral radiographs. Radiographs clearly indicated the cause of Angel’s facial swelling. She had a well demarcated tooth root abscess of her upper fourth premolar.

Tooth root abscesses are not uncommon in our canine patients. Affected animals can present with oral pain and/or facial swelling. The affected tooth may even be mobile. The majority of the time the abscess accompanies a tooth fracture but there are a variety of causes for development of a tooth root abscess.

The treatment for a tooth root abscess is extraction of the affected tooth followed by a course of antibiotics and analgesics. Extraction alleviates the pain and the nidus of infection. More advanced endodontic therapies may be performed by dental specialists if preserving the tooth is a top priority. Happily, after extraction and medical treatment, Angel is back to normal.


A dog with a ruptured tooth root abscess so severe it broke through the skin.	Radiographs of a tooth root abscess associated with a mandibular tooth.	A dog with a fractured upper fourth premolar that could allow bacteria in.