In certain cases, keeping your smile healthy means not preserving a tooth, but removing it entirely. While this may seem counterproductive, often the oral health concerns impacting a tooth mean your oral health depends on the immediate removal of a tooth. What should you know about dental extractions? Is the process comfortable?
Try Our Quiz on Dental Extractions
- True or False: Wisdom teeth often need to be removed.
- True or False: We can also address infected or damaged teeth.
- True or False: We have sedation to help the patent stay comfortable.
- True or False: Aftercare is necessary to aid the healing process.
Answer Key
- True. Wisdom teeth erupt in our late teens and early 20s. These up to four additional molars can cause misalignment, impaction, discomfort, infection, and lead to serious oral health complications. Fortunately, we can use extraction to simply remove them prior to eruption.
- True. We may remove a tooth that has become loose due to gum disease, developed an infection that threatens to spread, or to help with the process of correcting misalignment.
- True. We will work with Dr. Mark Waggoner, a dental anesthesiology expert who will help oversee your IV sedation, which helps patients enter a calm and relaxed state, with no memory of the procedure afterward. He often helps with wisdom tooth removal.
- True. The healing period typically lasts about a week. To aid in the process, we recommend changing gauzes regularly, rest and don’t perform strenuous exercise, rinse your mouth with salt water after during the first 24 hours after each meal, and don’t mess with the area with your tongue. We also suggest avoiding mouthwash, alcohol, and nicotine products during the healing period. If you have any questions or concerns about removing teeth, then please contact out office today.
Do You Have a Tooth Requiring Removal?
At Vi Mai-Truong, DDS, we can remove a tooth to improve your oral health and if necessary, discuss a replacement option. For our patients who don’t speak English, our office is fluent in both Spanish and Vietnamese. To schedule an appointment, call our Garland, TX office today at (972) 530-0552.
