Up to 10 million wisdom teeth are extracted each year, making wisdom tooth extraction the most common type of extraction by far! Contact us now to see if you need an extraction in Woburn.
To begin the process, your dentist at Woburn Dental Associates will clean and numb the surgical area to prepare for the extraction procedure.
Once your mouth is numb, your dentist will grab the tooth using special dental tools, and then loosen its connection to your gums and mouth by wiggling the tooth around. Then, they will extract it by pulling it out with a pair of dental forceps.
After the tooth is removed, the socket will be cleaned, sanitized, and stitched shut to allow your mouth to heal properly after your treatment. Then, the entire process will be repeated if you need to have multiple teeth extracted.
Once your treatment is done, you’ll be sent home with a set of recovery instructions to follow as you heal from your procedure. Follow them closely to heal properly after your appointment at Woburn Dental Associates.
No. Your mouth will be completely numb during your surgery, so you won’t feel any pain or discomfort.
While some pain will occur after your numbing wear off, this is normal. Follow your dentist’s instructions to minimize pain and speed up your healing and recovery time, and the pain should start to fade within 1-2 days.
Yes. If you’ve lost a tooth (except for wisdom teeth), you need to have it replaced. Losing one or more teeth can negatively affect your appearance, affect your ability to bite and chew, and make it hard to speak clearly.
Losing a tooth can also cause teeth to shift near the now-empty socket, and leads to the weakening of the jaw bone below the tooth. For all of these reasons, you should get a tooth replacement like a dental implant as soon as possible. Your dentist at Woburn Dental Associates can explain all of your options in further detail.
How long it takes to heal after extraction depends on a few factors, such as the type of extraction performed, how well you follow aftercare instructions, and if blood clots have properly formed at the extraction site.
A simple or basic extraction is when a visible tooth is extracted by loosening the tooth with an elevator and pulling it out with forceps. Because no oral surgery is involved, the extraction site will heal much faster. You can expect the hole to close within about a week but full healing of the tissue will take at least another week.
A surgical extraction is when a tooth that is impacted (has not fully erupted from the gums) needs to be surgically opened to access the tooth. An incision is made into the gums and may require additional cutting of bone and soft tissue before the tooth can be removed.
Surgical extraction takes longer to heal because of trauma to the jaw bone. While the hole will close in about 6 weeks, complete healing may take a few months. The most important aspect of healing after extraction is to avoid dislodging blood clots from the socket as this can lead to a dry socket which is very painful and can extend the recovery process.
For the first 72 hours after either extraction, it is important to take it easy and rest. Your dentist will discuss aftercare with you during your appointment.
Patients do not always need to have their wisdom teeth extracted. However, wisdom teeth rarely come in at the right angle or fully erupt through the gums. Because of this, wisdom teeth are prone to infection, pain, overcrowding, damage to surrounding teeth, and are difficult to clean.
In the rare case that your wisdom teeth grow in properly without causing you any problems such as pain, infection, or overcrowding, you do not need to have them extracted. However, we recommend that you come in for an x-ray so we can take a look at where they are sitting in the jaw bone before they even erupt so we can predict if they would cause problems for you in the future.
The most common alternative to extraction is a root canal. A root canal is a treatment used to remove damaged pulp from the tooth and fill it up with a rubber-like material. This treatment is 95% effective in treating damaged and infected dental pulp.
However, once the damage has become extensive or the infection has spread, a root canal may no longer be an option. If your dentist offers a root canal as an option, it is important to have it performed as soon as possible.
We always recommend that you try to save your teeth rather than having them pulled. While extraction may seem like a quick and easy fix, it can cause permanent problems such as irreversible bone loss and changes to your facial structure which can cause premature facial sagging. You will also need to have the tooth replaced (unless it is a wisdom tooth) to prevent your teeth from shifting which will lead to crooked or overcrowded teeth and changes in your bite.
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