Tooth Extraction
Maintenance of Good oral hygiene is always essential for one’s dental health. A loss of a single tooth can have a significant effect on your oral health, personal, and professional life. However, though dentists will always use every measure to avoid any tooth loss, there may be an occasion when a tooth needs extraction. In such cases, although a person is not ready to do the dental procedure, the infection or severe risks make it necessary to undergo tooth extraction. Our office ensures the dental services are smooth and painless.
1. Severe decay
2. Severe Periodontal Disease
3. Gingival, Periodontal Or Periradicular Abscess
4. Orthodontic Crowding
5. Malpositioned Teeth
6. Fractured Or Traumatized Teeth
7. Impacted Wisdom Teeth
The removal of tooth removes only the infection within the tooth. The dentist will thoroughly irrigate the extraction socket to remove the remaining infection. However, in severe cases, the infection also spread in the tissue spaces and bone. These space and bone infections are treated with antibiotics.
When extraction is done, the bone fractures and then the tooth comes out of the socket. The fractured bone is necessary for final healing, and in most case will heal without any complications. However, in certain cases, you will feel sharp extraction bone spur or pieces, that can delay your healing. On the follow up appointment, your dentist may remove the bone spur or pieces for you, so the extraction site can have normal healing.
Extractions are cover under most insurances after paying coinsurance and deductible. Bone grafting has become a standard of health care after extractions, and hence more increasingly, dental insurances are covering grafting as dental service.
Wisdom Teeth Extraction
Extractions of Wisdom Teeth are not always necessary, but tooth extraction is the best treatment in cases of recurrent infection. Wisdom teeth erupt on an average between 18 to 25 years of age. The millions of years of evolution have made human jaws smaller; however, the size of teeth has remained the same. In other words, Wisdom teeth are the last teeth to erupt in the mouth, and by the time they begin to erupt, there might not be enough space for the teeth to come in. Hence, crowding is the most common problem that can arise from the eruption of wisdom teeth.
Types of Wisdom Teeth Extraction
Fully Impacted Wisdom Teeth
In Fully Impacted teeth, the tooth is submerged below the bone and gums, and it cannot erupt in the mouth due to the lack of space. Even though the tooth is inside the jaw, there is constant pressure of eruption on the adjacent teeth and gums. This can lead to constant pain and swelling or crowding of teeth, which can necessitate extraction of the wisdom tooth.
These types of extraction always involve a surgery where the dentist raises a flap, remove the bone around the tooth, and extract the wisdom tooth. There are also more complications associated with such wisdom teeth removals, however, the studies show that wisdom teeth extracted at a younger age have fewer complications that at an older age.
Also, Impacted teeth can lead to crowding of teeth, even in cases where the tooth is inside the jaw. Therefore, before the initiation of orthodontic treatment, it may be necessary to remove wisdom teeth prophylactically to avoid any force from the wisdom teeth.
Partially Impacted Wisdom Teeth
Partially Impacted Wisdom teeth are half outside the mouth and half inside the jaw. The half erupted tooth doesn’t form a proper attachment of gums around it. Hence, the gums surrounding the wisdom tooth can have a big pocket. This pocket is more susceptible to food impaction and poor oral hygiene. Therefore, this can also cause caries on the wisdom teeth, and if there is severe caries on the impacted tooth, it can even complicate the tooth extraction procedure.
Pericoronitis is term used for infection of the gum lying over the partially erupted tooth. Since there is no space for the tooth to come out in the jaw, partially erupted wisdom teeth can also cause crowding of teeth. Finally, food impaction in partially erupted wisdom teeth can cause severe decay or severe periodontal disease on adjacent teeth.
Fully Erupted Wisdom Teeth
In patients with fully erupted wisdom teeth, the wisdom teeth have not good access in the mouth. Hence, it is challenging to maintain wisdom teeth healthy. Food impaction can cause severe decay or severe periodontal disease. Chronic cheek biting is also more common due to the absence of cheek space around wisdom teeth.
In very few cases, patients can maintain healthy wisdom teeth where extraction may not be necessary.
Bone Grafting During Tooth Extraction
Often after removing a tooth, bone grafting is vital to replace the extraction space. Healing is much faster, with less complication when bone grafting follows tooth extraction.
Time needed: 15 hours
How is Bone Grafting procedure done?
- Cleaning the tooth extraction socket
After tooth extraction, the dentist uses normal saline to clean the bony socket.
- Bleeding is induced if not present
If there is not enough bleeding, with the help of a surgical handpiece, bone is removed inside the bony cavity to initiate bleeding. Bleeding is necessary as bone grafting needs growth factors in the blood.
- Bone Grafting placed in the socket
Finally, the bone graft is placed and lightly packed and covered with collagen tape and resorbable sutures.
Advantages Of Dental Bone Grafting
A tooth extraction without bone grafting can cause bone loss. An implant, Dental Bridge, Partial Denture, or Complete Denture needs adequate support from bone to function correctly. Bone grafting helps restore regular support of bone necessary for the functioning of the prosthesis and dental health.