Oral Surgery

Tooth extractions can take anywhere from five minutes to half an hour, depending on the tooth, how difficult it is to extract, and the number of teeth your dentist must take out.

For example, removing a slightly impacted molar might take as little as five minutes, but removing a wisdom tooth that has pushed up into your soft tissue can take as long as 30 minutes.

The recovery time following a tooth removal depends on how many teeth you have extracted, and whether they are in the back or front. After tooth removal, you will have some discomfort and swelling around the area. However, this typically goes away within a week.

Afterward, your dentist may prescribe antibiotics to prevent infection in the empty socket that remains once the tooth is gone. Avoid smoking or spitting for the first few days following your tooth extraction, to reduce your risk of infection.

If a tooth is lost, there are several options to consider:

You can opt for bridge, denture, or implant. Dental implants replace the missing tooth from the root to the exposed crown and can last a lifetime.

A bridge can replace one missing tooth by linking neighboring healthy teeth together.

At Dorsett Dentistry, we see many young patients who need a tooth extraction. Most often, children require extraction of a primary, or baby tooth, due to decay or trauma such as a sports injury.

Extraction of baby teeth is not painful and typically does not cause complications, but the process can be anxiety-provoking for parents and their children.

Teeth will begin to move in and take the place of the baby teeth around age 6, but this process can last well into adolescence. The second teeth may also be larger than the baby tooth that they replace. This may lead to future problems like crowding or misalignment. As a result, children who have lost baby teeth early or whose baby teeth were removed may need to visit a pediatric dentist for a consultation.

Crowding occurs when there isn’t enough space in your jaw to fit all of your teeth. It can lead to teeth becoming crooked or misaligned. Some patients will opt to have their wisdom teeth removed to avoid this problem down the road, but it’s best to address the issue before it becomes a problem.

When a tooth is severely decayed or damaged, your dentist might recommend extraction to prevent damage to surrounding teeth or your gums. A seriously damaged tooth might have to be surgically removed, which is more complicated than a simple extraction. If you are unsure about whether or not your dentist wants to do an extraction, ask them for more information.

At Dorsett Dentistry, we recognize that many patients have a great deal of anxiety about wisdom teeth extraction. However, there is no medical consensus about whether or not it is necessary to remove wisdom teeth. The consensus appears to be that it is not always necessary, but there are some cases where surgery makes sense.

If your wisdom teeth are coming in crooked, pushing against other teeth, or become decayed, you may need to have them removed. When wisdom teeth come in naturally, they can cause problems and should be monitored for this reason.