An abscessed tonsil can cause a sore throat and difficulty swallowing up to a week before the abscess forms. Other symptoms include swollen lymph nodes, a muffled voice, ear pain, and bad breath. Left untreated, it can cause fever, chills, and swelling in the neck and face.
An abscessed tonsil, more technically referred to as a tonsillar or peritonsillar abscess, can start producing symptoms up to a week before the actual abscess forms. The first symptom is usually a sore throat and difficulty swallowing, followed by other symptoms as the condition progresses untreated. Externally, an abscessed tonsil can cause swelling of the face or throat area, swollen lymph nodes, and the uvula that feels like it’s been pushed to the side. Patients may also experience a muffled or “hot potato” voice, in which they have difficulty pronouncing certain vowel sounds, secondary ear pain, drooling, and bad breath.
Patients with an abscessed tonsil usually begin experiencing a sore throat two to eight days before the actual abscess forms. The sore throat may be mild at first but will get progressively worse and will generally tend to focus on the side of the throat that contains the abscess. Along with this you typically experience difficulty or pain when swallowing, which may or may not extend to the ear. Also, pain when chewing or opening the mouth is more symptomatic of tonsillar abscesses than it is with tonsillitis alone.
Left untreated, an abscessed tonsil will eventually make a patient sick by the time the abscess formed. Fever and chills are common symptoms during this time, as are headaches and general malaise. The initial pain surrounding the throat may expand into pain and tenderness in the jaw, neck, and sometimes the face. Also, the initial ear pain may focus on the side where the abscess has formed.
Externally, patients with the above symptoms will most often experience swelling in the neck and sometimes in the face or jaw area. Tender, swollen lymph nodes reacting to the infection usually accompany this, and you will typically be able to feel them on your neck. In the back of the mouth, an abscessed tonsil usually causes swelling on one side of the throat to the extent that the uvula will appear pushed to the opposite side.
This same swelling will also lead to the “hot potato” voice in many patients, so named because of a muffled feature in the voice where patients may have difficulty pronouncing certain vowels. The effect is as if their mouths are full of hot potato. Tonsil abscesses can also cause drooling and bad breath, which refers to severe bad breath due to infected tissue found in the back of the throat.
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