General dentistry can help protect your smile by addressing issues before they threaten the stability of your smile. Sometimes, this could even mean removing a tooth altogether. For example, if there are injuries or severe infections that could spread, we could extract a tooth. In today’s blog, your West Allis, WI, dentist talks about our approach to tooth extraction.
The Reasons We Need to Extract a Tooth
What situations call for the removal of a tooth? We could conduct a tooth extraction if a tooth is decayed or infected beyond the ability to be extracted with a root canal and crown. Likewise, if injuries are too severed to be repaired with a dental crown. Removal could be needed to help make room for orthodontic treatment, or to pave the way for a dental prosthetic, such as a set of dentures. We could also remove teeth to improve bite balance and chewing function, or to even prevent wisdom tooth impaction, safeguarding your smile against the complications that arise when wisdom teeth erupt.
Planning the Removal and Ensuring Your Comfort
We plan this procedure in detail before we get started, taking detailed digital x-rays of your smile to assess the position of the tooth and its roots, ensuring we don’t make contact with blood vessels, nerve tissues, or sinus cavities. We also want to ensure your comfort, so we numb the area with a local sedation, and we also have dental sedation available, from nitrous oxide to IV sedation, to help you enter a deep state of calm and relaxation, with little to no memory of the procedure at all!
Once we plan this in detail and you are properly sedated, we will gently remove the tooth with a pair of forceps and suture the area closed. For some, this could take as little as a half-hour. We may recommend you avoid food and drink for a few hours before the procedure, and we will likely schedule it in the morning.
Helping with Your Recovery
Our team will send you home with detailed instructions to help you avoid complications, so a clot can form and the area heals quickly. We also provide prescriptions medications to aid in the healing process, so you can return to your normal routine after a day or two. Our team will take out your sutures in a follow-up visit too. If you have any questions about how we protect smiles with a tooth extraction, or how ensure the process is comfortable and effective, then please reach out to our team today to learn more.
Ask Our Team About General Dentistry
Our team wants to help you enjoy good oral health by removing teeth that could threaten your smile. To schedule an appointment with Stubbs Family Dentistry in West Allis, WI, call our team today at 414-541-8250.
