90% of people have at least one impacted wisdom tooth.
After numbing your tooth, we will loosen the tooth with a dental elevator. This severs the ligaments that attach it to the socket. Once the tooth has been loosened in the gums, forceps will be used to remove it. Sutures are typically not necessary.
After administering local anesthesia and any necessary sedation, an incision will be made into the gums to reveal access to the tooth. From there, additional bone tissue may be removed near the tooth’s root. The tooth will then be sectioned, which means cut into smaller fragments for easier removal.
The tooth is removed in the same way as a basic tooth extraction in that it is loosened and then removed with forceps. We will then clean the site of the extraction to remove any remaining debris or tooth fragments and suture the gums shut.
Kids and adults lose over five million teeth every year!
No, an extraction is a completely painless procedure thanks to modern dental advancements like anesthetic and sedation. We will administer local anesthesia to numb your mouth and prevent the sensation of pain.
For more complex surgical procedures or if you have dental anxiety, we may use additional sedation that will relax you. The most discomfort you will feel will come following the procedure, once the anesthetic has worn off.
Even then, you should only feel minor tenderness or discomfort that can be treated with anti-inflammatory pain medication and cold compresses. The pain should subside with each passing day. If pain is severe or gets worse, you should contact us right away. Avoiding dislodging the blood clot is essential to avoid a painful condition called Dry Socket.
Yes, you must replace a missing tooth as soon as possible, or you will quickly run into problems. Tooth loss causes jaw bone degradation which is irreversible. Once you suffer from bone loss, it’s not coming back and this can have serious consequences such as changes to your bite, changes to your facial structure, premature facial sagging, and inadequate support for dental implants and other restorations.
This can happen pretty quickly after losing a tooth, so it’s important to act fast. If you don’t fill the gap in your teeth, your other teeth will also begin to shift, which can cause orthodontic problems that require treatment with braces.
These teeth may also lean into the space where your old tooth used to be, which makes replacing the tooth difficult until you undergo orthodontics. There are many tooth restorations to choose from, such as dental implants, bridges, and dentures.
35% of us are born without wisdom teeth.