When a tooth cannot no longer be treated with a restoration, or if one staying in place threatens your smile, then we could help with a tooth extraction. The procedure can be done comfortably and gently, helping you enjoy your best possible. In today’s blog, your Santa Rosa, CA, oral and maxillofacial surgeons talk about extracting teeth.
The Need for an Extraction
A tooth extraction could be necessary to safeguard your smile from major complications down the road, which could include painful symptoms and the spread of infection. We could take out teeth too damaged to be repaired with a crown, or to address serious decay and infection that cannot be treated with a restoration. We could remove teeth to make room for orthodontic treatment, or to improve bite balance and chewing function. Teeth could be extracted that have been loosened by gum disease too. But one of the more common reasons is to prevent wisdom tooth impaction.
Wisdom Teeth
These are also known as third molars, and tend to erupt in our late teens and early 20s. These could mean up to four new teeth are fixed into your smile which leads to an increased risk of misalignment, infection, tooth decay and gum disease, damaged teeth, and a painful partial eruption known as an impaction. But with a tooth extraction, we can remove these before they even erupt to preserve the health and beauty of your smile.
Dental Implants
If you’re going to receive dental prosthetics like bridges and dentures, which we support with dental implants, we may need to extract teeth to make room for your prosthetic. Our team will gently take these teeth out and then gather detailed digital images and measurements of the area, so we can design your new prosthetic and also plan the placement of your dental implants, moving forward with addressing the gap in your smile by providing a new one. Dental implants mean your new smile could stay in place for decades to come, possibly even a lifetime.
Digital Imaging Technology
How do we start the process of removing a tooth? To begin, we will take detailed digital images of your smile from multiple angles, and use them to identify the position of the tooth being removed and to plan the extraction so we avoid blood vessels, nerve tissues, and sinus cavities. These images are also essential for planning the repla; cement, so we can assess the best areas and angles to insert your dental implants too. These imaging systems use a fraction of the radiation, and images are available instantly chairside, no waiting for development. These are high-definition and provide diagnosis and planning with precision and accuracy.
Anesthesia and Sedation
We want to ensure your procedure is a comfortable one as well. We will administer a local numbing agent to the area where the tooth is being removed to keep you comfortable throughout the process. If you have anxiety or special needs, or to ensure your comfort if your teeth are being removed, our team can also offer sedation. We will choose an appointment based on your age, weight, medical history and medications, and then administer it so you enter a calm and relaxed state, with little to no memory of the procedure. We can choose from nitrous oxide, real conscious sedation, and IV sedation. We then gently extract the tooth with a pair of forceps, and suture the area closed.
Aftercare
Often, the sedation could leave you feeling a little groggy, so have a friend or family member ready to take you home afterward. We will provide detailed aftercare instructions and prescriptions to ensure your healing process is complication-free, so you can return to your normal routine in as little as 24 to 48 hours. We will remove sutures in a follow-up, and if necessary, talk about replacing the extracted tooth with a durable and long-lasting dental implant, one that looks natural while addressing minor or even advanced tooth loss. If you have any questions about our approach to tooth extraction, or if you have serious issues that need oral surgery to address, then please reach out to our team to schedule your initial consultation and get started!
Learn More About Tooth Extraction in Santa Rosa, CA
Our team wants to help you maintain your best possible smile with oral surgery, so you can enjoy better oral health, bite function, and smile beauty, sometimes in as little as one visit. To learn more about removing a tooth or to schedule an appointment for a consultation, give us a call at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery at (707)545-4625 today!
