Tooth extraction can help ease dental pain almost immediately especially if your tooth was severely broken or infected.
A tooth extraction is a dental procedure during which your tooth is completely removed from its socket. Causes for tooth extraction include severe tooth decay (cavities) where root canal treatment is not done, fractured tooth that can’t be saved with a filling/crown, an impacted tooth, crowded teeth that require removal for orthodontic reasons, cases where the patient can’t control the gum disease.
A tooth extraction can introduce bacteria into the bloodstream, so please inform us if you have conditions that may make you prone to infection. These may include heart disease, weakened immune system and a recent surgery, including heart surgery and bone and joint procedures that involve metal hardware.
Tooth extraction will either be a simple extraction or a surgical extraction.
Simple extraction: The procedure is performed under a local anaesthetic, which numbs the area around the tooth while you remain awake. The tooth comes out with the help of instruments called an elevator and forceps. It comes out whole with no part of the tooth remaining in the socket. You won’t feel any pain during the procedure as you will be numb.
Surgical extraction: This is an extraction that occurs when the tooth is heavily broken down, below the surface or when a simple extraction breaks and leaves part of the root behind in the bone. Dr Basil will refer most impacted wisdom teeth to an oral surgeon, a dentist who specialises in impacted wisdom teeth procedures.
Dr Basil has also been placing resorbable bone grafts in extracted sockets to help minimize the bone loss following extractions . A large portion of bone resorption takes place within 3 to 6 months of tooth removal. The vertical aspect of your bony alveolar ridge (attached to your jawbone) tends to disappear faster.
Do all extraction sockets absolutely need a bone graft? The answer is no. But, many of them do, especially if you had a serious periodontal disease where a significant amount of bone is already missing from your alveolar ridge, or you are planning to place an implant. It could take anywhere from 3 to 6 months for the bone graft to fully heal and integrate with existing bone and form new natural bone growth.
