When a tooth can no longer be treated with a restoration, or if wisdom teeth could cause trouble for your smile, then you may need to have a tooth removed. In today’s blog, your Woodland Hills, CA, dentist talks about how we approach safe and gentle tooth extraction, and preserve your smile.
When Smiles Need to Lose a Tooth
When do we remove a tooth from your smile? Well, if you have one too damaged, decayed, or infected to be treated with a restoration, this could eventually threaten surrounding teeth, so we will remove the tooth in question. Likewise, we can take out ones loosened by gum disease, or to make room for orthodontics treatment. Wisdom teeth, or third molars, arriving on our late teens and early 20s. Since there is rarely room for them, this could cause misalignment, damaged teeth, infection, and painful partial eruptions known as impaction. But we can protect the health, beauty, and function of your smile by removing them completely from your smile.
Sedation Dentistry
As with an oral surgery procedure, we take measures to ensure you feel calm and comfortable. In addition to a local anesthetic near the tooth being removed, we could also help with sedation. We have a number of options available, and they all help you enter a calm and relaxed state with little to no memory of the procedure. The options we provide will depend on your medical history, age, weight, and anxiety levels. The effects often take time to wear off, so be sure a friend or family is on hand to bring you home afterward.
Extraction
Once you’re calm and comfortable, our team will next gently extract the tooth in question with a set of forceps. We then suture the area closed or provide medication to help preserve the area. The entire process often takes as little as 30 minutes to complete. Afterward, take any prescribed medications as we recommend, and be sure you rest for the rest of the day. You can usually return to normal activities after a day of rest, and we will remove sutures in a follow up visit. During the first day, eat only soft foods, avoid straws, don’t prod the site with your tongue, and be very gentle when you brush and floss.
If you have any questions about how we extract a tooth, then contact our team today to learn more. We’re ready to help you enjoy your best possible smile again.
Your Woodland Hills, CA Dentist Provides Oral Surgery
We would like to help you enjoy good oral health, and that sometimes means removing a tooth. If you would like to learn more about our tooth extraction procedure, then contact your Woodland Hills, CA dentist, Dr. Naminik, by calling 818-347-5124.