Should I Go to the Dentist With a Sore Throat?

The Short Answer: It Depends What the Visit Is For

A sore throat does not interfere with a filling, an extraction or a root canal. Local anaesthetic works the same whether your throat is scratchy or not. The real questions are whether you can sit back comfortably for the length of the visit, and whether you are infectious.

Two things decide it.

• What is causing the sore throat. A dry, scratchy throat from a cold is one thing. Strep, or a throat so sore you cannot swallow, is another.
• How urgent the tooth is. A check-up or a clean can wait a week. A tooth that is throbbing or swelling cannot.

When You Can Keep the Appointment

You can generally come in if all of these are true:

• No fever.
• You can swallow without real difficulty.
• Any cough is occasional, not constant.
• You feel well enough to sit through the visit.

Tell us when you book. It costs nothing, and we can build in a pause if you need to swallow or sip water. Bring tissues, and a mask if you have one.

When to Move It

Postpone routine work if you have a fever, swollen glands in your neck, or a throat infection your doctor has diagnosed as strep. Until you have been on antibiotics for a day or so and the fever has gone, you can still pass it on. Check-ups, cleanings and fillings that are not hurting can all move by a week without any cost to your teeth.

It is also fair to the next person in the chair. Some of our patients are elderly or have conditions that make an ordinary infection a bigger deal for them than for you. If you are not sure whether you are still contagious, a call to the clinic settles it faster than guessing.

When the Sore Throat Is Really a Tooth

An infected lower back tooth, or a wisdom tooth with swollen gum around it, can send pain toward the throat and make swallowing sore. The mouth and throat share nerves and share space, and the brain is not very good at telling them apart.

Think of a tooth if:

• The sore throat is on one side only, and that side has a back tooth that has bothered you before.
• There is no cold, no fever and no runny nose, just the throat.
• Your gum is red or swollen at the very back, or you have a bad taste.
• It hurts more to open your mouth wide or to chew than to swallow.

A tooth that is causing this is worth seeing the same day. Our guide to gum inflammation around a wisdom tooth describes the most common version.

When It Is Not a Dentist Problem

Go to the emergency room, not to us, if you have trouble breathing, difficulty swallowing your own saliva, a mouth that will not open properly, or swelling that is spreading down the neck or toward the eye. Our guide to facial swelling from a tooth infection explains why that combination matters.

And if you have a sore throat and your teeth feel completely normal, you need your family doctor or a pharmacist. We cannot treat a throat infection, and we will say so.

If You Are in Beit Shemesh and Not Sure

Our clinic is on Harav Kook 28/1, open Sunday to Thursday 08:00 to 20:00, with Friday hours and emergency-only cover on Shabbat. Same-day appointments are possible. A WhatsApp message describing what hurts, and whether you have a fever, is enough for us to tell you whether to come today or stay home. You can describe it in Hebrew or English, which helps when the honest answer is "I cannot tell if it is my throat or my tooth".

Looking After Your Mouth While You Are Ill

• Keep brushing, gently. A few days of skipping it is when a borderline tooth stops being borderline.
• Throat lozenges and cough syrup are mostly sugar and sit on your teeth. Rinse with plain water afterwards.
• Drink water steadily. A mouth dried out by illness makes teeth more sensitive.
• Tell us which medicines you have taken, so we know what is already in your system.

If a tooth is bothering you and you are not sure whether to come in while your throat is sore, call or WhatsApp Urgent Dental Care in Beit Shemesh on 055-985-8845. You see one dentist, Dr. Gabriel Joel, DMD. Our emergency dental care in Beit Shemesh and urgent treatment in Ramat Beit Shemesh pages explain how an urgent visit works. Related: going to the dentist with a cold and tooth abscess signs.

For guidance from sources with nothing to sell, the ADA's MouthHealthy explains what counts as a dental emergency, and the American Association of Endodontists covers what different kinds of tooth pain usually mean.