Tooth Removal (Extractions)

Wisdom Teeth Removal

Wisdom teeth, or third molars are the last teeth to come into the mouth. If need be, they can in some cases be restored using all the regular dental procedures. If there's room for them, they usually start to appear in the late teens or early twenties, and that's when problems can begin.

A few lucky people are able to keep their wisdom teeth, use them, and take proper care of them. In most cases this isn't possible, and a delay in their removal can cause serious problems:

An impacted wisdom tooth may push on other teeth. It can be excruciatingly painful when a wisdom tooth that's partially in, becomes infected. This is a common dental emergency and can cause pain for days, even after antibiotics are started.

A misaligned tooth can also cause cavities. A wisdom tooth can come in sideways and in turn cause a cavity in the second molar. They are nearly impossible to keep free of plaque. Plaque causes cavities in the wisdom tooth. Plaque also causes periodontal disease, which may start near the wisdom teeth and spread throughout the mouth.
Sometimes cysts form around infected wisdom teeth, and they can destroy a tremendous amount of bone before they're noticed. A cyst requires surgery to remove it.

With time, the roots of wisdom teeth may grow around a nerve in the jaw, which can be damaged during extraction. This could leave you lip and chin permanently numb.

Because of these many serious problems, it's usually better to remove wisdom teeth early, even before they break through the gums.

There are many advantages to removing wisdom teeth in the mid-teen years:

• The roots of the teeth are still short.
• There's still a space around them that makes them easier to remove
• There is less risk of nerve damage, and bone will fill in better behind the second molar

All of this adds up to less pain and faster and easier healing.

Before we discuss how wisdom teeth are removed, we'd like to offer some suggestions. You probably won't feel like driving home after your surgery appointment, so arrange to have a friend or family member come with you. Schedule some time off from work or school. You'll probably want to take it easy for several days after your appointment. An appointment to have all four wisdom teeth removed normally only takes an hour or two.

We may offer nitrous oxide gas (laughing gas) to relax you, and then we'll numb your teeth. After a while, the area is checked to make sure that you're completely numb. Though you'll feel pressure when a tooth is removed, you shouldn't feel any pain at all. If you do, we'll stop and give you more anesthetic. Depending on the situation, it's sometimes helpful to cut the tooth in two before removal. If your tooth is below the gum line, we'll remove it through a small incision. A couple of stitches will close the incision.

Having your wisdom teeth extracted will prevent many future problems, and with modern dental techniques, it should be a comfortable procedure for you.

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Tooth Removal Due To Periodontal Disease

Periodontal Disease is an infection of the teeth, gums, and the bone that surrounds the teeth. It's this infection, combined with your body's reaction to it, that causes bone loss. The roots of teeth extend into the bone of the jaw. In a normal mouth the bone comes up high around the necks of the teeth. With periodontal disease the bone level is much lower. Once bone has been lost, it never grows back. When too much bone is lost, there's so little support for the teeth, they get loose and have to be removed.

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Tooth Removal Due To Cavities

Dentistry has come a long way, but there are still some situations where teeth have been so damaged by decay that they must be removed. The roots of teeth extend into the bone of the jaw. A crown covers and protects a damaged tooth. It fits over the part of the tooth above the bone, but can't go below the bone. So, the more tooth that we have to work with above the bone, the better. If a tooth is decayed to a degree that it is impossible to restore, then it must be removed.

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Primary (Baby) Tooth Removal

All of this adds up to less pain and faster and easier healing.
Before we discuss how wisdom teeth are removed, we'd like to offer some suggestions. You probably won't feel like driving home after your surgery appointment, so arrange to have a friend or family member come with you. Schedule some time off from work or school. You'll probably want to take it easy for several days after your appointment.

An appointment to have all four wisdom teeth removed normally only takes anywhere from half hour to an hour or two. We may offer nitrous oxide gas (laughing gas) to relax you, and then we'll numb your teeth. After a while, the area is checked to make sure that you're completely numb. Though you'll feel pressure when a tooth is removed, you shouldn't feel any pain at all. If you do, we'll stop and give you more anesthetic. If your tooth is below the gum line, we'll remove it through a small incision. A couple of stitches will close the incision.

Having your wisdom teeth extracted will prevent many future problems, and with modern dental techniques, it should be a comfortable procedure for you.

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Single Tooth Removal

We want the entire procedure of having a tooth extracted to be comfortable for you, so the first thing we do is to make sure you're thoroughly numb. After a while, the area is checked to make sure that you're completely numb. Though you'll continue to feel pressure when a tooth is removed, you shouldn't feel any pain at all. If you do, we'll stop and give you more anesthetic.

Nobody likes to have a tooth removed, but using modern dental techniques, it should be a comfortable procedure.

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Possible Alternatives to Tooth Removal

Sometimes, you may not have an alternative; your tooth may have to be removed.

If a tooth can be saved, the alternatives to having it removed are:

• Saving it by root canal therapy and a crown or
• Using surgical procedures such as bone grafting or root amputation.

 

It's a risky third alternative to delay treatment, because the problem will only get worse. If it has a cavity, it will get deeper and get into the nerve. If there is bone loss around the tooth, you'll lose more bone. And if the damage has gone too far, and the tooth has to be removed, then delaying treatment lets the infection spread to other teeth, or worse yet, to the rest of your body. Your life can even be threatened by infections in the jaw.

Remember in some cases it's important to replace a tooth after it's been extracted. A missing tooth can set off a chain of reaction resulting in many new problems.

 

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