Why Get A Dental Extraction?

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Dental extractions are a dental procedure in which dentists remove one or more teeth from a patient's mouth. Before the procedure begins, your dentist will inject a local anesthetic into your gums to numb them. You will not feel anything as your dentist extracts the necessary teeth. Still, the idea of having teeth removed can be scary. Here are four reasons that you may want to get a dental extraction.

1. Relieve pain

Tooth decay can cause severe oral pain. Some types of tooth pain can be solved by drilling away decay and filling the resulting gap with amalgam fillings or composite resin. However, some people with more extensive tooth damage resulting in extreme pain elect to have problematic teeth extracted.

2. Prevent an infection

When the integrity of a tooth is compromised, bacteria can find their way into the vulnerable inner pulp of a tooth. If this occurs, the sensitive nerve of your tooth can become infected. An infection can be treated with antibiotics, but unless the underlying cause is fixed, the infection will likely keep recurring. When the pulp of a tooth becomes decayed, people can choose to have a root canal, but some people prefer to avoid this procedure because of the great expense involved. Dental extraction is a viable alternative to root canal therapy.

3. Replace damaged teeth

Teeth can become damaged due to decay, but teeth can also crack or chip due to bite force or blunt force trauma. Minor damage can be fixed using dental bonding or dental crowns, but these repair techniques may not be sufficient to restore more extensive damage. Instead, patients can choose to have their damaged teeth extracted. Once the extraction site has healed in one to two weeks, patients can elect to have their missing teeth replaced with dental implants.

4. Remove wisdom teeth

Everyone is born with four wisdom teeth. These teeth typically emerge from the gum line in late adolescence or early adulthood. Some people are lucky enough to have their wisdom teeth emerge without incident, but many people have mouths that are too small to accommodate wisdom teeth in addition to their existing permanent teeth. Impacted wisdom teeth can cause pain, infection, and injury. They can damage surrounding teeth, especially if they grow in the wrong direction. Wisdom teeth can therefore be extracted so they cannot cause problems.

Reach out to a dentist for more information about dental extractions


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