The most common reason for tooth extractions is the improper growth of wisdom teeth. If your wisdom teeth are impacted or are otherwise not growing in properly, they may need to be removed to ensure that your other teeth remain healthy. However, not everyone needs their wisdom teeth to be removed, so it’s best to consult with your dentist to find out if your wisdom teeth are or will be a problem. Tooth extractions may also be necessary if you have an extremely severe cavity, severe damage from oral trauma, or an infected tooth that cannot be saved with root canal therapy. In most cases, it is possible to save your tooth with a crown or root canal therapy, but sometimes extraction may be your only option. Some patients with severe gum disease may require tooth extractions. In its most severe stages, periodontal disease causes teeth to become loose and eventually fall out. Your doctor may want to extract these teeth to prepare you for a strong and long-lasting tooth replacement option. Extractions are required to prepare patients for these treatments, including the placement of dental implants or dentures.

You won’t feel any pain or discomfort during or immediately after your extraction due to the numbing and sedation used during the procedure. However, you will start to experience symptoms including pain, discomfort, swelling, bruising, and bleeding within a few hours following your extraction. These symptoms usually peak within the first 2-3 days, and then start to fade as you heal. You will typically need to eat a diet of mostly soft foods for about 5-7 days after your treatment, so plan accordingly. 

Overall, it will take about 1-2 weeks for your extraction site to heal completely. Following the recovery instructions provided to you by your dentist will enhance your healing progress. If you are still feeling a lot of pain and discomfort 1-2 weeks after your extraction, this is not normal. Contact your dentist for a follow-up appointment.

Usually. Tooth extractions that are required to remove impacted wisdom teeth, or damaged or decayed teeth, are typically covered by insurance. However, we recommend that you contact your insurance provider and work with them to fully understand your coverage and benefits.

Immediately after your tooth extraction, you should mostly be consuming your calories through a liquid or very soft food diet that involves little to no chewing. This includes broths, soups, mashed potatoes, pudding, applesauce, or ice cream.

After the first day or two, you can eat soft foods that are slightly chewier like mac and cheese, rice, pancakes, and roasted vegetables. You will need to stick to soft foods for the first 1 or 2 weeks depending on how fast you’re healing. 

Listen to your dentist about when you can start incorporating chewier and crunchier foods. You should avoid hard, sticky, crunchy, and tough foods for at least the first week. Foods like popcorn, nuts, seeds, hard candy, and meats should be avoided during this time. It’s also a good idea to chew on the opposite side of your mouth so you don’t disturb the extraction site.

The good news is that tooth extraction is completely painless thanks to modern medicine advancements like anesthetics and sedation. Whether you need a basic or surgical extraction, we will numb the area by injecting a local anesthetic into your mouth to ensure you don’t feel any pain.

Because surgical extractions are a little more invasive, we typically recommend that patients undergo additional sedation so they don’t feel anxious or uncomfortable. Any extraction appointment can be done under sedation. 

At Dental Studio 920, we offer nitrous oxide, oral conscious sedation, and IV sedation. In rare cases, we may refer you to a specialist to get the wisdom teeth removed under general anesthesia in a hospital.

An extraction is no more painful than many other routine restorative procedures, and it can actually relieve your pain when your tooth is infected, decayed, or seriously damaged.

No, you don’t need dental sedation to have a comfortable tooth extraction procedure. Since we always administer a local anesthetic, you shouldn’t feel any pain at all. Sedation is only recommended to help patients relax and to relieve stress and anxiety. 

While you won’t feel pain during the procedure, you may feel some pressure, pulling, and hear the sound of dental tools. This can be alarming, uncomfortable, and distressing for patients with dental anxiety. 

This is why dental sedation is always available, but completely optional. Sometimes we may recommend sedation for patients who have a complicated case or when the tooth is located very close to a nerve.

However, not everyone is a good candidate for sedation so you must come in for a sedation consultation where we evaluate your medical history to determine if it’s right for you.