Reasons You May Need a Tooth Extraction

There are plenty of reasons why you might think a tooth extraction is in your future — severe toothaches that make it impossible to eat, broken teeth, and painfully erupting wisdom teeth, to name a few. 

However, in many cases, your trusted dentist can offer other treatments such as emergency dentistry and root canals to save your teeth and prevent extractions. 

Saeed Mokhayeri, DDS and Hengameh Safarcherati, DDS at Arya Dental in Fullerton, California, offer comprehensive dental services to repair and preserve your teeth, as well as state-of-the-art tooth extractions to minimize any pain, discomfort, or general disruption to your life. 

If you feel a little lightheaded at the thought of an extraction, knowing what to expect and why the procedure is necessary may help you feel better about tooth removal.

When extraction is the best option

In some cases, tooth extraction might be your best bet to preserve a beautiful, healthy smile. 

Deeply infected tooth

Our dentists offer advanced root canal services to save teeth with severe internal decay. However, if the decay and infection have penetrated the pulpy interior of your tooth, we might not be able to save it. 

In those cases, we recommend an extraction to minimize your discomfort and stop the decay from damaging your jaw or other teeth. 

Compromised immune system

If you have a compromised immune system, which may occur if you’re undergoing chemotherapy or taking immunosuppressive medication for an organ transplant, then we may also recommend the extraction of an infected tooth to reduce your risk of more serious health complications. 

Severely broken tooth

If you break a tooth, we have plenty of options to repair it. However, if the damage is too extreme, you may be better off with an extraction. For example, if the break exposed the pulpy interior of your tooth, there might not be much we can do to repair it. 

Impacted tooth

Most of the time, your teeth erupt from your jaw and push through your gums to take their place in your mouth. 

If a tooth gets trapped in your gums — or impacted — it can leave you in significant pain, but it can also damage the roots of the neighboring teeth and increase your risk of infection. In these cases, removing the impacted tooth may be necessary to prevent future oral health issues.

Crowded teeth

Some people have small jaws that may not be able to accommodate all of their teeth. As a result, your teeth get pushed together, overlapping and twisting. 

Crowded teeth not only affect your smile, but they’re also more challenging to keep clean and can increase your risk of tooth decay and cavities. You may need extractions before starting orthodontic treatment. 

Wisdom teeth

Your wisdom teeth don’t have to be removed. If you have enough space in your jaw and your wisdom teeth emerge as expected, you can keep them. 

However, if your wisdom teeth don’t have enough space to erupt, they can cause overcrowding or become impacted. These situations increase your risk of tooth decay, infection, and pain. 

Our dentists monitor your dental health and development, and if we discover potential problems with your wisdom teeth, we work with you to create a plan to deal with them. 

What happens during extraction

Our experienced dentists offer both simple and surgical tooth extractions. 

Simple extraction

During a simple extraction, we thoroughly numb your tooth and surrounding tissue. Then we use a special dental tool to wiggle the tooth until it loosens enough for us to pull it out. 

Surgical extraction

If your tooth is impacted or broken at or under the gumline, we usually recommend a surgical extraction. We thoroughly numb your mouth during a surgical extraction and make incisions along your gum before pulling out the tooth and root.

What to expect after a tooth extraction

Tooth extraction might sound scary, but regardless of the type, you may only experience discomfort for a few days. You might want to take a couple of days off from work or school after a surgical extraction. You’ll also need to follow a soft diet while your gums and jaw heal.

After your tooth extraction

Once your tooth is removed, we can discuss tooth replacement options. Dental implants are the gold standard when it comes to replacement teeth. They look and act just like natural teeth, stimulating healthy bone growth as well as restoring your smile. 

Don’t be afraid of dental extractions. We only do them when necessary and offer replacement tooth options to restore your smile. Call our office or send us a message online today to request an appointment for comprehensive and gentle dental care.