The Role of Dental Extractions in Lancaster
Tooth removal is a concept so dear in dentistry. While the initial concept of dental healthcare systems is to preserve the life of teeth, sometimes, removal is necessary. At Kids First Dental, we encounter a lot of tooth removal cases with patients of all ages, including children. At one point in your child’s life, you may require the aid of a dentist in removing the milk teeth.
However, tooth removal is not a concept applicable to children only. Adults too may require their teeth to be removed at one point in time. Deciding when you need to save a tooth or lose it can be overwhelming. This is why you should lean on the advisory of your dentist in Lancaster, SC, about your treatment options.
What are Dental Extractions
They are procedures performed to remove teeth from the mouth. The extraction process involves removing it from its root, not just the crown. Tooth extractions can be performed by a general dentist, even though they fall under the specialty of oral surgeons. Depending on which tooth is being removed, the procedure can involve a minor surgical process.
What Does Tooth Extraction Involve?
The procedure of removing a tooth differs, depending on the nature of the tooth. Generally, the process involves the following steps:
- Sedation – removing a tooth from the root can get quite uncomfortable. A form of sedation is used to alleviate pain and reduce anxiety. Local anesthesia is especially reliable for numbing your mouth from the pain that might result.
- Gum incision – the gm tissue is cut open to expose the bone inside. This allows the dental expert to remove the bone that is safeguarding the tooth. Once the bone tissue is exposed, it is then removed to allow for easy removal.
- Shaking the tooth – the target tooth is rocked back and forth to loosen it from the root. If this is successful, the tooth should be easy to dislodge from the root.
While this process often works, there are instances it has to change. Some patients may have very stubborn teeth. Therefore, to remove them, a dentist has to break the tooth into small pieces. This makes it easy to pick out the pieces from the root.
Why Do You Need Tooth Extraction?
It is not a joy to talk about losing a tooth. However, when your dental health depends on it, it could be the best decision yet. There are a couple of reasons that inform the removal of a tooth, including the following:
Dental decay – a severely decayed tooth may not have many alternatives for salvaging it.
- Severe dental decay can quickly escalate into a high-risk dental problem. Removing the affected tooth can prevent further spread of the infection in your gums and adjacent teeth.
- Wisdom teeth – wisdom teeth removal is not uncommon in dentistry. These last molars to grow can be problematic when they do not grow properly. A common case is where part of the wisdom tooth remains stuck underneath the gum tissue, it makes it difficult to chew food, and can be pretty painful. Another instance is where the wisdom tooth grows toward the direction of the adjacent teeth. This leaves all the pressure on the other teeth, introducing other dental problems. Removing problematic wisdom teeth, therefore, is the best move.
- Orthodontic challenges – orthodontics is a specialty in dentistry concerned with the realignment of teeth. In some instances, aligning teeth properly can involve removing a tooth or two. This is especially in the case of a crowded mouth. To create room for the rest of the teeth to sit properly, it is necessary to remove some teeth.
- Risk of infection – a dentist takes an analysis of your teeth the first instance you walk into his/her office. According to your analysis, your dentist can detect infection by conducting a few tests. Sometimes, your teeth are at a risk of infection, which might compromise the entire state of your oral health. Such is a tooth that is extracted, for the greater good of your dentition.
Abscessed tooth – abscess features a pocket of pus. If it gets caught up in your tooth, it settles t the root level. This causes an infection, not only in that tooth but all around.