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Clindamycin For Tooth Infection- Is It Useful?
Have you ever tried using clindamycin for tooth infection? If not, here is all you need to know to decide if it is the best treatment or not.
Tooth infections or oral infections often require the use of antibiotics as a treatment. Clindamycin is an antibiotic of the type lincosamide that is highly used to treat various bacterial infections including teeth or oral infections.
It is generally given by the doctors in form of oral medications or antibiotics but when the teeth infections are severe, you might need intravenous clindamycin to get the infections treated from its roots.
Tooth infections should never be left without treatment for long as they are most likely to spread to other areas as well so it is highly important to get the infection cured. Also, you should understand that the treatment plan provided b the doctors should be followed carefully.
Here is a detailed guide with all the necessary information on using clindamycin for teeth infection. Know how it starts working with the dosage needed.
What is Clindamycin?
Clindamycin is an antibiotic given for the treatment of some serious bacterial infections. It is highly useful in the treatment of bone infection and joining problems like osteomyelitis. It can be used to treat infections in the abdomen.
It is used for the treatment of tooth infections when the other antibiotics have failed to show useful effects in treatment or the condition has still not improved. It works effectively by stoping the bacterias which may cause the infection by multiplying in your body.
Clindamycin is also used as a skin preparation to treat acne and as a gel or cream for treating vaginal infections in women. It has several sued due to its properties and effects against bacterial infections.
Before Taking Clindamycin
Some medicines might not be suitable for all the people in treatment. Sometimes you might also require to take extra precautions while you are on medication to make sure it is working properly. For these reasons, before you start using clindamycin for tooth infection, here are some important things to find out and inform them to doctor:
- If you are breastfeeding or pregnant you must inform the doctor. Although clindamycin is safe for babies, the doctor still needs to know, if you are breastfeeding the baby or expecting.
- If you are having any bowel problems that may cause diarrhea.
- If you are suffering from rare inherited blood disorders like porphyria.
- If you are on other medicines which may interact with clindamycin. This includes medicines that you have taken with or without prescription and herbal medications.
- If you have any allergic reactions to some medicines previously.
If you are taking an oral thyroid vaccine, make sure you inform the doctor about that too because taking any antibiotics with vaccinations may stop the working of that vaccine resulting in no effects.
Benefits Of Clindamycin For Tooth Infection
Penicillin antibiotics such as amoxicillin and penicillin are used most commonly used for the treatment of tooth infections. Clindamycin is mostly used for treating tooth infection resulted from any allergy or you have already used penciling antibiotics but did not see any results.
Clindamycin for tooth infection is among the most used treatments as it is highly active against many bacterias. This is crucial when it comes to a tooth infection involving several different types of bacterias.
How much clindamycin should be taken?
When you visit a doctor, they are most likely to prescribe a served day course for taking clindamycin for tooth infection. On each day for a week, you will be asked to take a dose of clindamycin after every 6 hours or so.
One dose may include one or two capsules of clindamycin for tooth infection. Make sure you follow all the guidelines and instructions given by the doctor through prescription.
Clindamycin for tooth infection may be taken either before eating or after finishing the food. Some people may experience irritation in their throat while taking a clindamycin tablet but taking a medication with a complete glass of water can help avoid throat irritation.
the usual dose of clindamycin for adults is nearly 150 mg to 300 mg which is one to two capsules about 4 times a day. The dose should be reduced for a child. If your child has a tooth infection, your doctor will suggest a lower dose.
Make sure your kid never opens the capsule before taking it so keep an eye on them. Try to take the right doses each day but make sure two doses should not be taken at the same time even if you have missed your previous dose.
Working of clindamycin for tooth infection?
If you are wondering how soon it starts working, keep reading.
Once you start taking doses of clindamycin, you will see an improvement in the symptoms you have been facing after 2 to 3 days most likely. If the symptoms are still the same or you have not noticed any improvement, contact your healthcare provider. In rare cases, the symptoms might get worse than earlier, in such cases you should seek emergency treatment from a doctor.
Make sure you complete the course of antibiotics given by the doctor, even if you see the results in 4 days and the Prescription is for 7 days, do not stop at 4 days. This is advised because some bacterias might still be present, once you stop the medications, they will eventually rise again leading to recurring tooth infections. This also makes the bacteria resistant to antibiotics in further treatment.
Allergic reactions to clindamycin
Allergic reactions after using clindamycin are extremely rare. However, if you develop any kind of allergy-like rashes while you are on antibiotics, contact your doctor as soon as possible as this may be a sign of drug allergy.
In very rare cases, it is also possible to have life-threatening reactions to any drug like anaphylaxis. Mostly the symptoms will appear within 30 minutes of consuming any drug or antibiotics, these may include the following:
- Itchy welts and hives.
- feelings of doom
- Passing out suddenly
- Diarrhea
- Vomiting
- Abdominal cramps
- Tightness in the chest.
- Swollen throat which might further cause trouble with swallowing or breathing and wheezing-like issues.
While the risk of developing anaphylactic reactions when you are on clindamycin antibiotics is low, it is still important that you know the signs and recognizes the symptoms if you face any. Anaphylaxis is an emergency that needs immediate treatment otherwise it becomes very fatal.
Side effects of clindamycin for tooth infection
Taking clindamycin for tooth infection may have a range of negative or side effects including loss of appetite, vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea.
You can prevent or reduce vomiting and nausea using a simple balanced diet while you are taking clindamycin. Avoid spicy food that may irritate your stomach. You may also take probiotics to replenish all the beneficial bacteria in your body and enzymes in your gut to minimize any side effects or downsides of clindamycin. You can follow the same for other medications and drugs too.
If you have been experiencing frequent water diarrhea after taking clindamycin, contact your doctors and health care experts before taking another medicine or dose. In extremely rare cases, clindamycin medicines might increase the risk of another infection with clostridium Difficile.
Clostridium difficile occurs when the balance of various bacterias in your gut gets disrupted such as while you are on an antibiotics treatment. This may cause the bacterias in your gut to grow out of control leading to serious and life-threatening infections.
Some of the symptoms of this infection also include:
- Watery diarrhea nearly 15 times a day sometimes containing pus or blood.
- Severe pain in the abdomen
- Loss of appetite
- Low-grade fever
- Nausea
If you notice any such severe symptoms, go for immediate or emergency treatment.
Is Clindamycin for tooth infection safe for everyone?
Taking clindamycin for tooth infection is a good way to treat bacterial infections. Clindamycin is safe for most people having it including pregnant women or breastfeeding women. If you are breastfeeding your baby, make sure to keep an eye for any of the symptoms of diaper rash or diarrhea in the baby.
Before using clindamycin, make sure you inform your doctor of any of the allergic relations you have had to any medication as it helps them decide the best treatment for you. Also, inform them about your digestive or bowel condition if you have had any that may cause diarrhea.
Clindamycin might also interact with few medications so makes sure you inform the doctor if you are taking other medications like:
- Muscle relaxants that have active ingredients like tubocurarine and pancuronium.
- Anti-diarrheal medicines that have active ingredients atropine or diphenoxylate and loperamide.
- Erythromycin.
How to store clindamycin?
- Keep clindamycin out of the reach of your children.
- Make sure you store it in a coll and dry place.
- keep the medications away from direct sunlight exposure.
The Bottom Line
Know that not every tooth infection needs an antibiotic treatment either through medications or intravenous. If you have any tooth infection requiring antibiotics or you have allergic reactions to penicillin then you may be prescribed clindamycin.
The course of antibiotics given by the doctors should only last for a week or so. You require one or two pills of clindamycin for tooth infection every 6 to 7 hours. To prevent the same bacterial infection from occurring again, make sure you do not leave the course in between after seeing a few improvements in your condition as the infection may be recurring.
This was all you needed to know on clindamycin for tooth infection. If you see side effects or downsides after taking clindamycin, visit your doctor for emergency treatment.
You can also follow the top 7 home remedies to treat abscesses problems if you have developed recently as tooth abscesses are really bad for your oral health.
