Extractions are normally performed after years of extensive treatment trying to save and protect your natural tooth. The reasons we extract include advanced decay and infection, gum disease leading to supporting bone loss (loose teeth), to make room for orthodontic treatment, or when removing wisdom teeth.
There are two routine methods for removing teeth – simple and surgical. The method chosen for you depends on how heavily decayed the tooth is and whether or not we could remove the crown and root intact. If we feel that much of the tooth is far below the gums and bone, we may elect to perform a surgical extraction. We will always discuss your options with you and let you know if we plan on doing anything but a routine extraction.
Simple extractions are usually very straightforward, needing only a short appointment.
After an extraction, your lips and gums may remain numb for a few hours until the anaesthetic wears off. You may also experience some oozing of the socket which can be treated easily by biting down on a small clean cotton napkin for 20 minutes. If it does not stop, you should come back into the surgery, as we may need to place a stitch or two. Later you may have throbbing pain, which you can treat with pain medicines, such as ibuprofen, paracetamol. The discomfort usually lasts only a day or two.
Once a tooth has been removed the bone and the gums in the area start to shrink. This makes future replacement more difficult as we need good quality and quantity bone to place an implant. To counteract shrinkage, we can place an immediate synthetic bone alloplast to help prevent bone loss and maintain the area for implant placement in the future.
We can extract a tooth and replace it immediately if desired, either with a denture, temporary bridge or an immediate implant.
