What Is A Tooth Extraction?
Your dentist may recommend tooth extraction for a variety of reasons. When a tooth becomes loose due to gum disease, is severely cracked or damaged, or has so much decay that root canal therapy is useless, extraction is the only option. For example, a patient's other teeth may need to be removed because they are blocking their eruption or in preparation for orthodontic treatment.
Tooth shifting, difficulty eating, and stress on the jaw joint are possible consequences of missing teeth. You and your dentist can discuss alternatives to extractions and post-extraction restorative procedures to avoid these issues.
Generally, tooth extraction begins with a dental elevator loosening the tooth, followed by a forceps pair tugging the bite out. If the situation is more complicated, such as when a tooth is impacted, the dentist or oral surgeon will first make an incision in the gums. They would if required, fracture the affected teeth into smaller pieces. This makes it easier to extract them than to remove the tooth entirely.
Typically, the treatment takes an hour and 45 minutes and requires only one visit to the dentist. To help you manage your expectations, the dentist will administer anesthetics during the procedure. If necessary, your dentist may also provide anesthesia to help you remain relaxed throughout the procedure.
Dental Extraction Procedure
The extraction procedure will be performed under local anesthesia in order to numb the tooth as well as surrounding bone and gums. The process involves rocking the tooth back and forth to ease it out of its socket for removal. You will feel considerable pressure, but no pain thanks to the anesthetic. If you begin to experience any pain during the extraction, please let us know immediately.
Benefits of Tooth Extraction
- Frequently, patients present to the dentist clinic with a complaint of dental pain. Typically, the causes are obvious, such as trapped items or decaying teeth. These are minor issues that can be readily resolved. There are, however, many underlying causes of such discomfort. Frequently, you may have developed an infection that has progressed to the tooth roots. If left untreated, it will continue to cause agony to the patient. If the dental problem is severe, the only method to alleviate the discomfort is to extract the tooth.
- One significant risk that dentists aim to minimize is the possibility of cavities or infection spreading to neighboring teeth. Regrettably, some patients become aware of this only when too late. The illness has already infected the remaining teeth. This will necessitate more dental treatments and more complex procedures. If the treatment is initiated at the incorrect time, the patient may experience the loss of more than one or two teeth. That is why tooth extraction is necessary to prevent infection from spreading to adjacent teeth and possibly to surrounding tissues and bones.
- Some people develop misaligned teeth as a result of crowding. In this case, the teeth are all too large to fit into the mouth of the patient or the mouth cannot handle the additional teeth. The procedure is to extract a tooth, in this case, a molar, in order to allow the others to adjust to their new positions. This ultimately leads to a more attractive smile.
Wisdom Tooth Extraction
One of Dr Garza’s passions is dental surgery, wisdom tooth surgery is one of his favorite procedures. Dr Garza has extracted over 12,000 wisdom teeth in his 25 year career. He has even removed them for patients who had 2 sets of wisdom teeth! Under the bone? No problem! We recommend removing all 4 wisdom teeth at the same time so healing occurs only once. The procedure for all four lasts anywhere between 3 to 45 minutes. Nervous or Anxious? We use oral sedation and Nitrous Oxide to relax you for a calming experience. The ideal age to remove your wisdom teeth is 17 years because the roots haven’t fully developed. We have extracted wisdom teeth from age 12 to 80+. You can trust Dr Garza will be conservative with the surgery and cut as little as possible for best post surgical outcomes.
Sectioning A Tooth
Some teeth require sectioning for an extracting. This is a common technique used when a tooth is stubbornly anchored or the root is curved and the socket can’t expand enough to allow for removal. The dentist will simply cut the tooth into sections, which are then removed one at a time.
Extraction Recovery
Bleeding
Some bleeding may occur after an extraction. Place a piece of clean, moistened gauze over the empty tooth socket and bite down upon it for 45 minutes to bring an end to the bleeding.
Blood Clots
Blood clots may form in the empty socket. Don’t be alarmed, as this is part of the normal healing process. Use care not to dislodge the clot.
Avoid rinsing or spitting for 24 hours after the extraction.
Do not use a straw, smoke or drink hot liquids for 24 hours after the extraction.
Swelling
If swelling occurs, rest an ice pack against your face for alternating intervals of 10 minutes on and 20 minutes off. Repeat as necessary for up to 24 hours.
Pain And Medications
If you experience pain, you may use over-the-counter pain relief medications such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen.
Eating
For most patients, you can eat normally but do not chew near the extraction site. Avoid hot liquids and alcoholic beverages for 24 hours. For some people, a liquid diet may be recommended for 24 hours.
Brushing And Cleaning
Do not brush the teeth near the extraction site for one day following the procedure. After that you may resume gentle cleaning. Avoid commercial mouth rinses, which might irritate the site.
Beginning 24 hours after the extraction you can rinse with a salt water solution (1/2 teaspoon of salt in a cup of water) after meals and before bed.
Dry Socket
When a blood clot fails to form in the socket of the extracted tooth or the clot has been dislodged, it is known as dry socket. This condition can seriously delay healing.
Carefully following all post-extraction instructions will reduce your chance of developing dry socket. Patients with dry socket experience a dull throbbing pain that begins three to four days after the extraction. The pain, which radiates from the extraction site, can be moderate to severe. Other symptoms of dry socket include a bad taste in the mouth, bad breath and a dry extraction site.
Your dentist will apply medication to the dry socket to soothe the pain.
Healing
After a tooth has been extracted, there will be a hole in your jawbone where the tooth existed. Over the subsequent weeks or months, the hole will smooth over and fill in with bone. It will most likely no longer be noticeable to you one to two weeks after the procedure, though.
Root Canal Retreatment Results
This procedure is successful for many patients in thoroughly removing decay and relieving symptoms. Many patients will enjoy permanent results from their root canal retreatment, with the treated tooth functioning properly throughout the patient’s life.
However, there is always a risk that the procedure may be unsuccessful, or that infection will occur again. Retreatment procedures unfortunately have a lower success rate than the initial root canal procedure. You may require extraction or surgery if the procedure us unsuccessful.
Root Canal Retreatment Risks
We consider root canal retreatment to be safe but as with any procedure, there will be risks and complications present. Some of these risks include damage to the tooth and repeated infections.
Patients can minimize these risks by choosing an experienced endodontist to perform your procedure. They can also adhere to the given instructions for before and after the procedure.
Who Can Perform a Tooth Extraction
Patients in need of tooth extraction frequently have difficulty deciding whether to consult a dentist or an oral surgeon. Tooth extraction is not a surgery to be taken lightly, and it’s critical to find the correct provider for your circumstance, even more so if it’s an emergency. Given that both dentists and oral surgeons can perform extractions, how do you know which one to choose? The answer is dependent on the sort of process required and the complexity of the work. We examine how to determine whether you require the services of a dentist or oral surgeon.
How Do Oral Surgeons and Dentists Differ?
You are likely familiar with what dentists do; cleanings, exams, tooth extractions, cavity fillings, and so forth. Oral surgeons, on the other hand, take it a step further. They have received training in dental surgery, which entails cutting into the gums or operating on the jawbone. In other words, any procedure requiring surgery.
While a dentist can extract a tooth, an oral surgeon can access the gum tissue and extract an impacted tooth or install a dental implant to replace a missing tooth.
Dentists may be able to undertake oral surgical procedures if they have the necessary expertise. This varies with each office, so you may obtain a recommendation for an in-office procedure that another dentist would do.
At Garza DDS, we are dedicated to providing our patients with the best possible care. If you have a tooth that is beyond repair, extraction may be your best recourse. We want to reassure you that we will do all possible to make your experience pleasant and pain-free. Please contact our office to schedule a consultation and allow us to assist you in getting back on track.