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All About Your Tooth Extraction

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Jake

Let’s face it. There’s not many things in life more painful than a toothache. Today I wanted to help you understand when a tooth needs to be extracted and walk you through the process so it’ll be a little less scary when you’re in the dental office.

Do I Need To Get My Tooth Pulled?

There are several instances when an extraction is indicated. Here are a few of them:

  1. Fractured Root – If the root of your tooth is fractured, there is nothing that can be done to save that tooth.
  2. Severe Bone Loss – When you get gum disease, it first causes your gums to swell. After it progresses, your bone begins to drop and let go of your teeth. They can get loose and require extraction.
  3. Gross Decay – If you have cavities that don’t get filled, they can eat your entire crown of your tooth. In this case you would also need to pull the tooth. 

Fractured Root

A fractured root is often caused by biting hard on something hard or from trauma. When the root is fractured there is no material or procedure that has been proven to effectively fix your tooth. This is why your tooth must be extracted if you have had the misfortune of breaking the root of the tooth.

If you’ve fractured your root, many times the x ray will show a dark spot around the root in the shape of a letter “J”. This is one of the indicators your dentist will use to determine if your tooth root is fractured. A second indicator is when you bite down on something. If it’s painful when you release that something, this can also be a sign of a fractured root. 

Your dentist will use these and several other signals to determine if fractured root is the culprit. Once he’s sure the tooth cannot be saved, he will proceed with extraction.

 

Gross Decay

 

Toothache Root Canal

Sometimes if your cavity gets out of control it can eat your entire crown of your tooth. If it gets to this point, there is nothing that can be done to save the tooth. In this instance your dentist will extract your tooth as well.

Gum Disease

The third cause for extraction is severe bone loss caused by gum disease. It also causes really disgusting bad breath. Most of the time if this is the cause of your tooth needing extraction, the tooth will come out fairly easily. 

It’s important to work on your dental hygiene if this is the cause for your dental extraction, as it can quickly cause the need for more teeth to get extracted, and you’ll end up in dentures.

What does it feel like to get a tooth pulled

When you go in to the dentist to get your tooth pulled, once you and the dentist have decided that the best treatment is extracting the tooth, he will use a syringe and a needle to get your tooth completely numb before pulling it out. If it’s a lower molar, the best injection is called an inferior alveolar block. This injection will numb the entire side of your jaw, along with the tip of your tongue. The dentist will do a couple tests to make sure you are completely numb. 
 
Once your tooth is completely numb, the dentist will use several tools to loosen the ligaments that hold your tooth in place. After those ligaments have been loosened, he will try to slide the tooth out. If that doesn’t work, he may have to do a surgical extraction. A surgical extraction is when he uses his drill to cut the tooth into separate pieces, or to cut away some of the bone holding the tooth in place. 
 
It sounds scary, but remember, you are completely numb so you shouldn’t feel any pain throughout this process.  
 
Pressure is the thing you will feel during the procedure. The number will get rid of any sharp pain or achy pain, but you will still some pushing and pulling while the dentist works that tooth out of the socket. 
 

What Happens After My Tooth is Pulled

The dentist will rinse out the socket with an antibacterial mouthwash. He may place some stitches or sutures depending on what kind of extraction it was. Then he will place gauze over the socket and instruct you to keep pressure on the gauze for 30-45 minutes. 

He may also instruct you not to exercise, smoke, drink from a straw, or spit for the next 24-48 hours. 

His instructions will be focused on helping your tooth socket heal well and quickly.  It’s important to do what he says so you can avoid getting dry sockets. Dry sockets happen when the healing blood clot gets dislodged and your bone is exposed. It is incredibly painful and should be avoided at all costs. If you do end up getting dry sockets, the dentist has a special paste that helps calm the pain of a dry socket.

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