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Dr. Burke will assess the condition of your teeth to determine if you require an extraction or if other treatments are available to save the tooth.
We will always administer local anesthesia before performing an invasive treatment. This will prevent you from feeling pain. If you would also like to be sedated for increased comfort, we offer laughing gas sedation.
Your tooth is held in place through ligaments in the socket. To loosen the tooth, we will rock it back and forth in the socket to sever the ligaments which expands the size of the socket so it’s easier to remove.
Once the tooth is fully loosened, forceps are used to lift it out of the socket.
After the extraction has been completed, the socket will be cleaned and we will stop the bleeding by placing gauze in the socket which you will bite down on for about 30 to 60 minutes.
Yes, you should always replace an extracted tooth. The only exception to this is the wisdom teeth, which do not need to be replaced. Wisdom teeth typically need to be removed because there isn’t enough space in the jaw for them to erupt fully.
However, the rest of your teeth are vital to your oral health, bone structure, smile aesthetics, bone density, and tooth functionality. When you lose a tooth, the surrounding teeth can shift if you don’t replace it.
This can lead to orthodontic problems, gaps in the smile, difficulty chewing, and speech problems. We offer many tooth replacement options, including dentures, dental implants, and bridges.
However, only dental implants can prevent bone loss that occurs from tooth loss. Over time, bone loss can cause premature facial sagging, increased risk of future tooth loss, and even the collapse of facial features.
On average, it takes about 3 to 4 weeks to heal from a basic extraction but surgical extractions take a little longer for patients to fully heal. A surgical extraction can take anywhere from 1 to 3 months for a full recovery.
However, the bulk of your healing occurs within just a few days in a basic extraction and may take up to a week for a surgical extraction. By day 3, you should no longer be bleeding, the swelling should be going down, and your discomfort should be reducing.
A clot should start forming within 24 hours and be mostly healed within 3 days. Within 7-10 days, there should be a fully formed blood clot in the socket but it will take a few more weeks for the socket to completely heal. Tenderness near the socket may persist for a few more weeks.
It’s important to stick to a soft food diet for at least a week following your tooth extraction. In the first 1 to 2 days, you should consume mostly liquids or very soft foods such as broths, applesauce, pudding, yogurt, or meal replacement shakes (without a straw).
You will need to avoid hard and sticky foods such as popcorn, nuts, seeds, candy, and tough meats for at least a week. Try to eat foods that involve minimal chewing and chew on the other side of your mouth to prevent food particles from collecting in the extraction socket. You need to avoid drinking out of a straw for at least the first 24 hours because this can lead to Dry Socket.
A basic extraction is a simple procedure used to remove a tooth that is fully visible in the gum line. When teeth have fully erupted, we can remove them in a less invasive manner because we don’t need to make any incisions to gain access to the tooth.
A basic tooth extraction involves loosening a tooth in the socket with a dental elevator and removing it with forceps. Because this procedure is less invasive, patients generally don’t need to be sedated unless they are particularly anxious and the recovery process is faster than a surgical extraction.
There are typically many different restorative options that can be explored before resorting to an extraction. We never recommend removing a tooth unnecessarily. Your teeth play a crucial role in your oral health, alignment, smile aesthetics, and oral functionality.
Losing teeth can make it more difficult to speak and eat which can reduce your quality of life. However, there are many cases in which a tooth may need to be extracted because there are no other options or the tooth cannot be restored to health.
This may be because of severe tooth decay, infection, gum disease, impaction, a tooth that needs to be removed to make room for orthodontic treatment, or because a tooth has been damaged beyond repair.
