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| Why
a tooth needs to be extracted (removed)?
- Periodontal disease
Periodontal disease is the infection of
the teeth, gums and the bone that surround
the teeth. 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. The bone level
needs to be up high around the “neck”
of the teeth. When you have periodontal
disease the bone levels can become very
low, and once the bone has been lost it
never grows back. When too much bone is
lost there is so little support for the
teeth that they get loose and have to
be removed.
- Decay
There are situations where teeth have
been so damaged by decay that no type
of restoration can be used. Crowns are
the restoration that covers the entire
tooth, but it can only cover above the
bone line, if the decay gets below the
bone we can’t restore it, so it
must be removed.
- Primary Teeth
When things go right baby teeth come out
on their own, without any special attention. That is because the permanent teeth grow
in under the baby teeth and the roots
of the baby teeth dissolve away. But
sometimes the permanent teeth don’t
come in directly under the primary teeth,
so the roots stay strong instead of dissolving
away. We can see permanent and primary
teeth side by side on the mouth, indicating that it
is the time to remove the baby teeth.
- Wisdom Teeth
They’re the last teeth to come into
your mouth, If there is room for them
they usually start to appear in the late
teens or early 20’s. The problem
is when they don’t have space. An
impacted wisdom tooth may push on other
teeth. It can be excruciatingly painful
when a wisdom tooth that’s partially
in becomes infected and can cause pain for
days even after antibiotics are started.
A misaligned tooth can also cause cavities
on the teeth next to it, and it usually
has cavities itself. It is hard to keep the back tooth free from
plaque. Sometimes the roots of wisdom
teeth may grow around the nerve in the
jaw, which can be damaged during extraction.
This could leave your lip and chin permanently
numb. Because of these serious problems,
it’s usually better to remove wisdom
teeth early.
What
does getting a tooth extracted involve?
The first thing we do is to make sure you
are thoroughly numb. The anesthesia takes
away the pain, but you will still feel the
pressure when we remove the tooth. We check
the area around your gums to make sure you
can’t feel that. We use elevators
and forceps to remove the teeth. Elevators
are placed next to the teeth and used to
roll the teeth out of the socket. The
forceps are used to firmly grip the tooth.
If you feel any pain we’ll stop and
give you more anesthetic. After the tooth
is removed we irrigate the area cleaning
the tooth socket of all the inflamed and
infected tissue. Sometimes we place a bone
graft material into the extraction socket.
To finish we place the sutures. We’ll
ask you to bite on a piece of gauze to keep
the blood clot inside the socket. You’ll
need to come back in one week for the postoperative
check.
What
is dry socket?
Dry socket occurs when the normal blood
clot is lost in the socket after a tooth,
usually a lower molar, has been removed.
After an extraction, a blood clot acts a
lot like the familiar scab on the skin surface.
It promotes healing, helps stops the bleeding
and prevents pain. When this blood clot
is lost we have the dry socket. The inflamed
socket and underlying nerve and bone becomes
exposed to the oral environment, resulting
in a dull throbbing pain starting 4 days
following extraction. It may radiate into
your ear and it doesn’t respond to
normal pain medications. You may also notice
a foul odor or taste in your mouth.
Causes of Clot Loss
- Smoking
- Constant spitting
- Sucking through a straw
- Coughing and sneezing
- Carbonated or Alcoholic
drinks
Call our office right away
if you notice any symptoms of dry socket.
The treatment for dry socket includes a
gentle rinsing of the socket with a medicated
solution, and then we also pack the extraction
site with a gauze dressing that contains
a soothing anesthetic. You’ll need
to make other visits to the office so we
can change the dressing and monitor effectiveness
of your pain medications. Overtime the clot
will fill back in and the area will begin
healing again normally.
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