Your permanent teeth are meant to last a lifetime, so an extraction should only be considered as a last resort. You might need to lose a tooth if:

It’s been irreparably damaged by decay. At a certain point, extraction might be needed to stop the infection from spreading.
Gum disease has damaged the jawbone and caused the tooth to lose.
It’s a wisdom tooth that has become impacted, meaning it has only erupted partially or not at all.
Your teeth suffer from overcrowding and there needs to be more space for orthodontic treatment.
The tooth has suffered from severe physical trauma in an accident and can’t be fixed.

WHY YOU NEED A TOOTH EXTRACTION

There are two broad types of dental extraction: simple extractions that use an elevator and forceps to remove the tooth, and surgical extractions where an incision in the gum tissue needs to be made. The type of procedure we perform will depend on your situation.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOOTH EXTRACTIONS

Sometimes full dentures are your best option for replacing multiple teeth at once, but you can’t get them if there’s still a few teeth remaining in the affected arch. In these cases, multiple extractions will be performed at once. In addition to the removal, the bone may need to be shaped and smoothed before you can receive your dentures.

MULTIPLE TOOTH EXTRACTION

Once the tooth is gone, the jawbone underneath will start to resorb (melt away) since it’s no longer needed. This can cause your remaining teeth to move out of alignment. With a preservation procedure, we can place a bone graft at the site, encouraging the production of new bone. This also helps ensure that enough bone density is retained for a dental implant to be placed.

EXTRACTION SITE PRESERVATION

You might experience some minor bleeding for a couple of days after surgery. Keep gauze on the area (you should get a fresh piece of gauze every 30 minutes) until the blood is dark and has formed a clot. Avoid smoking during the recovery period, as it could easily lead to infection. Do not rinse for at least 24 hours, and do not smoke, spit or drink through a straw for at least 3 days.
Pain and discomfort can often be controlled with ibuprofen and other medications, and swelling can be reduced with an ice pack. For the first few days, you’ll be restricted to soft, cool foods like pudding, applesauce, ice cream, and mashed potatoes. (Soup is okay as long as it’s at room temperature.) In three or four days, you’ll be able to begin moving back to a regular diet.

POST OPERATIVE CARE

The vast majority of patients who have wisdom teeth will have them removed since there’s usually not enough room in the mouth for them to come in properly. Most wisdom tooth extractions will be surgical. Sometimes the tooth will be removed in pieces if the entire thing can’t be extracted at once.

LEARN MORE ABOUT WISDOM TOOTH EXTRACTIONS

WISDOM TOOTH EXTRACTION