Dental Extractions of Permanent Teeth: Are They Necessary?

Your adult teeth are expected to remain with you for a lifetime. If for any reason, the dentist in Clearwater, FL, suggests you have a permanent tooth extracted, you may express nervousness wondering why the dentist has made the scary recommendation.

If you are having a tooth extracted for the first time, you may want to know the reasons why dental extractions are necessary during adulthood. This article provides the most prominent reasons why dental extractions become essential and are recommended by dentists to preserve your oral health.

Reasons For Tooth Removal

• A Crowded Mouth: Sometimes, orthodontists request tooth extractions to prepare the mouth for orthodontia to correctly align the teeth, which is challenging if your teeth are too large for your mouth. Similarly, if a tooth cannot erupt through the gums because of lack of space, the dentist near you recommends an extraction.
• Infections: When tooth decay or damage extends the pulp to the center of the tooth housing the nerves, blood vessels, and connective tissue, creating inflammation, dentists initially recommend root canal therapy to preserve the tooth. However, if you have a severe infection challenging to treat with antibiotics, an extraction is needed to prevent the disease from spreading.
• Risk of Infections: If your immune system is compromised because you are receiving chemotherapy or undergoing an organ transplant, the risk of infections in a particular tooth is reasons enough to have the tooth removed.
• Periodontal Disease: If you have gum disease, an infection of the soft tissues and bones supporting and surrounding the teeth but loosening them, you may receive suggestions from the Clearwater dentist to have the tooth or teeth pulled before they fall off.

What to Expect with Dental Extractions?

Dentists and oral surgeons with training to perform surgery generally extract teeth. If you have a visible tooth in your mouth, you merely need a simple extraction performed by your dentist in a simple procedure. The extraction requires 20 to 40 minutes, depending on the location of the tooth. You receive local anaesthesia before the process to ensure your comfort. After the tooth is entirely numb, the dentist loosens it using elevators before extracting it with forceps.

If you are undergoing an impacted tooth extraction, you require help from an oral surgeon and perhaps more full anaesthesia to make you sleep during the removal. The oral surgeon must cut away gum and bone tissue covering the tooth before grasping it using forceps and rocking it back and forth from the jawbone. Sometimes removal of a challenging tooth proceeds by breaking it into pieces before extraction.

After tooth removal, whether the surgical or straightforward formation of a blood clot in the tooth socket is natural. Dentists place a gauze pad on the extraction site and have you bite down on it to prevent bleeding. In some cases, dentists even insert stitches to close the gum edges over the extraction site.

Sometimes the blood clot breaks loose the bone in the socket. This is a painful condition called dry socket. If you experience a dry socket, you must contact dental extraction in Clearwater, FL, as soon as possible to have a sedative dressing placed over the extraction site for protection until new clot formation.

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What Happens After Dental Extraction?

After having a tooth removed, the dentist allows you to proceed home and recover. Recovery from dental extractions requires a few days, but the dentist provides after-care instructions relishing the risk of infections and speeds your recovery. Instructions provided by dentists include the following:

• You can have any painkillers prescribed by the dentist as instructed.
• Bite down firmly on the gauze pad placed by the dentist to reduce building and encourage the formation of a blood clot. Change the pads before they are soaked in blood.
• You can use an ice pack over your cheeks immediately after tooth removal to reduce swelling. However, do not use the ice pack for more than 20 minutes at a time.
• You must avoid spitting vigorously for at least 24 hours after the removal to prevent dislodging the blood clot and the extraction site.
• Get plenty of rest after tooth removal limiting your activities for a couple of days.
• You can have soft foods on the day of the extraction and gradually reintroduce the regular foods into your diet.

After you have recovered, you must schedule another appointment with the dentist to inquire how to close the gap in your mouth. You can consider many options for replacing the extracted tooth. Still, you will find dental implants in Clearwater the best because they provide natural-looking artificial teeth to replace the extracted tooth.

As can be seen, if you receive a recommendation for permanent dental extraction, there is no reason for you to fear because the procedure is simple, and the dentist ensures you don’t display a gap in your mouth for long.