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Inflammation of the jaw can have many different causes, which must be detected and combated.
Helga B. is concerned. For days she has been plagued by diffuse pain in her mouth. She is hardly able to differentiate whether these originate from the teeth or the gums, maybe even from the jaw. Toothache or pain in the oral cavity is often caused by a dental disease. In some cases, however, it is not the teeth themselves that are responsible for the discomfort, but the periodontium. Inflammation of the jaw is one of the most common causes - it is usually the result of an existing infection caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi.
If an inflammation of the teeth or gums remains untreated, the pathogens quickly spread from the original source of inflammation in the mouth to the jaw bones. In addition, other sources of infection apart from the periodontium can also be a possible cause of the inflammation. Depending on which part of the jaw is affected, it can be ostitis (inflammation of the vascular channels in the jaw), periostitis (inflammation of the skin of the jaw bone) or osteomyelitis (inflammation of the bone marrow).
The best known causes of inflammation of the jaw are common dental diseases such as caries, inflammation of the teeth, inflammation of the root of the tooth or inflammation of the gums. Due to the direct connection of the upper jaw to the nasal cavity, in some cases the pathogens of an ENT disease also reach the jaw structures, where they then trigger a subsequent inflammation. For example, an inflammation of the jaws due to sinusitis is conceivable. And even cold and flu pathogens, if not completely cured, can migrate into the jaw and cause inflammatory infections there.
Inflammations of the jaw, which are caused by the use of force, are often underestimated. First and foremost, mechanical violence, as it occurs during a jaw operation, should be mentioned here. The open wounds on the gums are usually very extensive and offer germs optimal access to the jaw structures if they are not kept sterile. The risk of a wound infection in the jaw area is also very high when wisdom teeth are extracted. The inflammation can reach very deep in this case, as the surgical procedure results in an open cavity in the alveoli.
