Could the bacteria from an untreated abcessed tooth cause severe neck pain and b!

Could the bacteria from an untreated abcessed tooth cause severe neck pain and breathing problems?

I've had an abcessed tooth for about a year. It seems to come and go. There is not a lot of pain now.. there was at first.. but, sometimes the gum will 'bubble' up in a small place. I know it's needing to be repaired, I just haven't had the money to have it done.. nor do I have insurance. Anyway, a couple of months after I noticed my tooth was abcessed, I started having some labored breathing and neck pain. I didn't coincide the two until just recently.. thinking that just perhaps it's all related. I've been to see my doctor and he thought that my neck pain was due to stress and the breathing problems could be the same. I did just recently, read about a little boy who died from the bacterial infection caused from an untreated abcessed tooth.. so, I realise that it's more serious than people think.

Yes, abscessed teeth have been known to cause some really bad problems, including a condition known as Ludwig's Angina. It is a life-threatening condition in which a dental infection spreads into the submandibular space and down into the neck, and causes swelling that compromises the airway. Thankfully it does not happen often.

I don't think that's what's happened to you though, because if it did you'd be on a stretcher in an ambulance racing to a hospital ER just about now.

You definitely want to get an abscessed tooth taken care of in a timely fashion, to prevent this and a hundred other crummy consequences of leaving a rotten tooth in your mouth to fester.

Go see a dentist, and soon.