Tooth removal may be needed for many reasons, including large areas of decay, severe periodontal disease, or traumatic tooth injuries. Whatever that reason may be, doctors are able to perform most extractions in our office. That means that outside of a few exceptions you won’t have to worry about going to multiple places for your dental work. Some instances where doctors may decide to refer you out to a specialist are when your wisdom teeth are not fully erupted, when an upper tooth is too close to your sinus, or when grafting and implant placement are needing to be done immediately after the extraction.

• Pain: When teeth like your 3rd molars, also known as “wisdom teeth”, erupt through your gums this can be quite uncomfortable.
• Decay: Teeth that have had decay (a cavity) in them for long periods of time may unfortunately no longer have enough tooth structure left to restore.
• Infection: If bacteria gets into the nerve of your tooth, it can cause an infection in your tooth and surrounding bone.
• Cracked teeth: Your tooth may get a crack in it that runs too deep within the tooth to be fixed or saved.
• Periodontal Disease: With teeth that have had a long history of gum disease and bone loss, they may become so loose that they need to be taken out to prevent infection/bacteria from affecting other teeth.

The typical time for extraction appointments will be 40-60 minutes. Some factors that could affect this are how many teeth are needing to be taken out, how broken down your tooth is, and whether or not your tooth has been previously treated with a root canal. Doctors do their best to make sure you are as comfortable as you can possibly be throughout the entire procedure. If that’s not enough, he is more than willing to give you nitrous oxide (laughing gas) to help calm any nerves you may have about the procedure.

However, if you are hoping to be put to sleep for your extraction/extractions, then he will write you a referral to an oral surgeon so that they can better meet your needs. Following your extraction, doctors will also go over multiple post-op instructions with you. Don’t worry if you forget some of this conversation as he sends you home with a copy of those same instructions talked about during your appointment.