At Revive Dental and Implant Center, we have the professionalism and knowledge to provide you with the highest standard of dental care for any problem your teeth or mouth may face.
From cavities to dental implants, we are on hand for anything that will help you improve your oral health. Sometimes, though, nothing can be done for a tooth, and we may need to recommend tooth extractions for the good of your overall dental health.
What is Tooth Extraction?
Tooth extraction is a dental procedure that involves the removal of a tooth from its socket in the bone. This procedure is often necessary for various dental issues, such as impacted wisdom teeth, severely damaged or decayed teeth, and teeth causing overcrowding or orthodontic problems. Common reasons for performing a tooth extraction can include:
- If your tooth has had an accident or significant decay, we may be unable to use a filling or a crown to restore it to health, making tooth extraction the next best option.
- Teeth that lack enough bone support can also limit our ability to save them, making extraction the best recourse.
- Root canal-resistant teeth that are infected can also endanger their neighbors, making them good candidates for swift tooth extraction.
Whether the cause is gum disease, trauma, or crowding, tooth extraction is a procedure more common than you may think. It may help to know that replacement teeth are not difficult to incorporate naturally back into your mouth.
Tooth Extraction: what to expect
After we have determined that tooth extraction is the right choice for you, Dr. Boustany will have you come in for an appointment so that we can take a thorough x-ray of the area in question. The results of the x-ray will show us the shape, length, and position of your tooth and the surrounding bone structure.
We will ask you to provide your full dental and medical history along with a list of any prescriptions or medicines that you may take. Once this information is in hand, we can then get a sense of what kind of procedure would best fit with your needs.
Our last step is to discuss with you the kind of anesthetic we will use during the surgery to help keep you calm, desensitized, and at ease as we work on your teeth. In most cases, a simple extraction is performed with a local anesthetic, and patients are comfortable. The entire process is relatively quick, and there is minor discomfort afterward, managed with over-the-counter pain medication.There are some reasons why we would include tooth extraction as part of your treatment plan. In cases where an impacted wisdom tooth is causing significant pain or damage, extraction may be the best option.
Post-Extraction Follow-Up
Though your extraction surgery will differ based on your unique needs, our tips for recovering from your procedure are universal. Our main goal directly following the surgery will be to prevent gum infection and keep the area as clean as possible as your body repairs the site naturally.
For the first hour or so after surgery, we will ask you to bite gently down on a piece of dry gauze to prevent excess bleeding. For the first day of your recovery, we encourage you to avoid smoking, rinsing your mouth too vigorously, or cleaning teeth that are too close to the extraction area. You may feel tired for a few days as your body focuses on healing, so we also recommend that you avoid strenuous activity until you have had time to recover.
If you think that tooth extraction might be an appropriate step when it comes to your dental health, call us today at 304-396-6658 to schedule your appointment! Whether it’s a simple extraction or a more complex case involving impacted wisdom teeth, our team at Revive Dental and Implant Center is equipped to handle your needs with care and precision.