I read a lot of the answers below. All are correct. However, IF you cannot get help from an oral surgeon or hospital Emergency Room, then, as a short term temporary fix, do this until you can: Keep your teeth apart. Switch to a full liquid and soft diet. Do not chew anything by putting your teeth together. Keep up your fluid and calorie intake. Rinse frequently, at least 4 to 6 times a day, more is preferable, around the sore gum for 2 minutes with half a glass of very warm tap water (not hot) mixed with a half teaspoon of table salt until it looks milky. With each rinse, spit out each mouthful when it no longer feels very warm. Half a glass will give you about 6 rinses. Do not put your teeth together at all until this is over. See if you can find a general dentist to stop the upper teeth from biting your lower gum. Sometimes the urgency can be handled by extracting the UPPER wisdom tooth and/or adjusting upper tooth cusps (points.) Many general dentists can do UPPER wisdom tooth extractions and bite adjustments. See a dentist or physician for an antibiotic prescription and take it on schedule. Your condition can become life threatening. ................ RUN TO A HOSPITAL E.R. IF YOU HAVE a fever over 101F, you cannot swallow, you have difficulty breathing, your tongue is elevated. the angle of your jaw is hot, OR swelling starts spreading below your jaw line. Your condition is SERIOUS and can be life ending.

Please go to the emergency room right away. You have a serious infection and you cannot afford to wait any longer

Pericoronitis is a dental disorder in which the gum tissue around the molar teeth, or any erupting tooth, becomes swollen and infected. This disorder usually occurs as a result of wisdom teeth, the third and final set of molars that most people get in their late teens or early twenties. If your tooth, jaw and cheek are swollen and painful, see your dentist right away. He or she can treat the infection with antibiotics. You can also take pain relievers such as aspirin, acetaminophen, or ibuprofen. The dentist may also prescribe a pain medication. If the pain and inflammation are severe, or if the pericoronitis recurs, you may need oral surgery to have the wisdom tooth removed.

The gum tissue over your wisdom tooth is getting irritated and pinched by tooth that is opposing it. This irritation is inflaming the tissue over your wisdom tooth and you are developing a low grade infection. Also food may be getting stuck under the flap of tissue making this situation worse. You need to see a dentist for X-rays and evaluation for removal of you wisdom tooth.

The symptoms you are describing are consistent with a serious oral infection that can create additional complications for you. This should be treated as an emergency visit with your local oral surgeon. In my experience, they will see you immediately. If not, you can visit your local emergency room, however, they will only help to control your infection and you will need to see the oral surgeon sometime later for definitive treatment.

See your dentist or go to the emergency room or immediate care center right away. You have a serious infection that could become worse and even life threatening if untreated. Once the infection has cleared up, be sure to consult with your dentist or oral surgeon about having these teeth out before the problem recurs.

From your description, you have pericoronitis with trismus. If no oral surgeon is available, get to a general dentist or emergency room ASAP. This is a severe infection that if left untreated could be life threatening. You need to be seen immediately, not posting questions of this importance to message boards and waiting for answers.

You're in need of immediate help. If you can't reach your regular dentist go directly to the hospital emergency room.

First, it is very hard to believe that no oral surgeon is "available", although I am aware that some may claim to "have no appointments". Sadly, an OMS is precisely who must address your problems appropriately, as the ER is NOT the "right" place. To top it off, unless an infection is serious enough to warrant a trip to the operating room (very rare) not much will be accomplished by visiting ERs or Acute Care clinics. And in many cases "hoping" that such infections will go away with antibiotics (given in ERs or ACCs by unsuspecting physicians who infrequently deal with them) often leads to dangerous consequences. So you need to be seen by a ORAL SURGEON promptly. If none want to give an appointment my suggestion THEN is to go to the ER--but simply to have the ER call an oral surgeon to arrange a timely (ie next day, for example) appointment if they don't feel it warrants "immediate" attention.