How Do Extract A Tooth?

Of course, your Gary, IN, dentist strives to help protect your smile from tooth loss due to infections or damage. However, sometimes actually removing a tooth is the key to protecting your smile’s health and beauty. From addressing wisdom teeth to correcting poor misalignment, your smile may benefit from extracting a tooth safely and comfortably.

The Extraction Process

How do we remove a tooth? Well, we begin by administering a local anesthetic around the tooth in question, and we may also offer dental sedation to ensure the patient enters a calm and relaxed state. Using forceps, we gently rock the tooth free and remove it, then we suture the area closed. The process is relatively quick, and helps address a number of very serious concerns before they can threaten your overall oral health.

When Do We Need to Remove the Tooth?

We may need to extract a tooth that has sustained serious damage, too severe to be repaired with a bonding procedure or crown placement. If you have major dental misalignment, removing a tooth may be needed to make room to reposition the others. We may take a tooth out to prevent the spread of infection, or to address one that has loosed as a result of advanced gum disease.

However, the most common reason to extract a tooth is to prevent wisdom tooth impaction. Our wisdom teeth are up to four additional molars that don’t erupt until we reach our late teens and early 20s. For some, these won’t pose a threat, but for most this could mean dental misalignment, painful partial eruption (impaction), infection, and even damaged teeth. To preserve your smile and prevent these major oral health complications, we simply remove them prior to eruption!

Aftercare and Recovery

Once we suture the area closed after we remove the tooth, you can return home. The sedation we use will take time to wear off, so you may need a friend or family member to drive you. We will send you home with detailed instructions, as well as prescriptions of antibiotics and possibly pain mediation. In the first day or two, you should eat soft foods, avoid using straws, and cut back on strenuous activity. Also, be sure you don’t prod the area with your tongue. We will schedule a follow-up visit to remove the sutures and make sure the area is healing as it should. After a day or two, you can pretty much return to your normal daily activities. If you have any questions about removing your teeth, or if you have concerns about wisdom tooth impaction, then contact our team today.

Healthy Smiles Of Northwest Indiana Provides Safe Extraction

At Healthy Smiles of Northwest Indiana, we can provide safe and comfortable dental extraction to protect your smile from major oral health complications. To find out more about oral surgery, or to schedule your appointment, call Healthy Smiles in Gary, IN, today at 219-938-2637.