What To Expect When Getting Your Wisdom Tooth Removed

What To Expect When Getting Your Wisdom Tooth Removed

Wisdom teeth certainly don’t make you smarter or wiser. However, they can give you serious headaches if you do not pay due attention to them. In order to avoid complications, it is important to know if wisdom teeth should be extracted or not, what complications can occur if you ignore certain symptoms, what extraction surgery involves and how you recover after such a procedure.

The decision to remove a wisdom tooth is not always an easy one to make. It is recommended that you discuss it with a dentist or a dental surgeon to examine the position and health of the molars, so that they can decide what is best for you, depending on the situation you are facing.

When a wisdom tooth should be removed

The problems that can arise in the case of wisdom teeth relate, in particular, to the position in which they develop and how they erupt. From this point of view, the following situations are serious reasons why extraction could be recommended or even mandatory:

  • Partial eruption (part of the mass remains in the gums). Because the tooth erupts in the back of the mouth, it’s hard to see exactly what’s going on there, and brushing isn’t easy either. Therefore, partially erupting teeth can be open corridors for food retention. They can lead to gum disease and other oral infections
  • They do not have enough space to grow. When the teeth do not have enough space to develop normally, they can force adjacent teeth to make room. Basically, they push into the molars next to which they grow and cause a domino effect.

Symptoms

Specialists recommend the extraction of wisdom teeth if certain symptoms or manifestations appear in the area, such as:

  • gum pain;
  • bleeding gums;
  • cysts, swelling in the molar area;
  • repeated infections of the soft tissue behind the brain mass;
  • tumors;
  • damage to nearby teeth;
  • gum disease;
  • extensive tooth decay.

What does the extraction involve?

The extraction is a surgical procedure to remove one or more wisdom teeth. Most such interventions do not involve high risks or long-term complications, but it depends very much on the technique used. In the case of teeth that grow in the gums, an incision and removal of the bone may be needed. Very rarely, the complications that can occur are infections caused by bacteria or food debris not cleaned properly, or damage to neighboring teeth, nerves, sinuses or jaw. The duration of the procedure depends on its difficulty.

Before the treatment, the surgeon will opt for a type of anesthesia, depending on the complexity of the extraction and your level of comfort. The dentist will use local or general anesthesia.

During the procedure, the dentist will:

  • perform an incision in the gum tissue to reach the tooth or bone, in the case of included or semi-included molars;
  • remove the bone that blocks access to the root of the tooth;
  • cut the molar into two sections if it is easier to cut it into pieces;
  • remove the tooth;
  • clean the extraction site of any tooth or bone residue;
  • suture the wound;
  • apply sterile dressing. They are very important in the recovery process because they prevent excess bleeding, protect the wound from infections and exposed bone, and help grow new tissues.

Recovery after an extraction

The recovery process could be outlined as follows:

  • the first 24 hours – blood clots form;
  • 2-3 days – swelling of the mouth and cheeks should diminish;
  • 7-10 days – stiffness and pain in the jaw should disappear;
  • 2 weeks – light bruises on the face should heal.

Recovery can take up to two weeks, but this varies from patient to patient. Swelling and pain may occur after the extractions; sometimes there is infection or bleeding. Postoperative care is very important and helps you recover faster. We recommend that you keep in touch with your doctor during the entire process and maintain constant communication. You will be advised about what you should eat/drink, how to perform oral cleaning, which physical activities are recommended and which are not, and what medication you should take.

At Pacifica Dental, Dr. Fatemeh Karimi is performing oral surgeries such as complicated wisdom tooth extractions. Dr. Karimi a dedicated professional with 22 years of experience. As a team, we endeavor to make any wisdom tooth extraction as easy and painless as possible, and make sure that the recovery process is fast and without any complications.

If you have any questions about removing your wisdom teeth don’t hesitate to contact us and schedule an appointment at Pacifica Dental.

Pain therapy – endodontics and/or extractions

Pain therapy – endodontics and/or extractions

Have you ever had a toothache that has kept you up all night? Not to worry- you can be pain free by the end of the day so you can have a good night’s sleep. Call us right away and you can have a same day emergency visit.

The first step is coming into the office so we can determine the cause of the pain. Our team at Pacifica Dental will gather information about your medical and dental history, as well as an accurate description of the pain. A certified dental assistant will take care of the required diagnostic aids and tests, such as radiographs, photographs, study models, and digital scanning. The dentist will perform a dental examination including an extra-oral evaluation as well as an intra-oral evaluation of soft tissue and dentition. You can expect questions such as “when did the pain start?”, “is it spontaneous?”, “is it lingering?” “did it wake you up?, “how would you score the pain, on a 1-10 scale?”, “are there any factors that make the pain worse or reduce it?”, and “is it triggered by temperature changes?”. In most cases, additional specific examinations are required in order to come up with an accurate diagnosis.  Ice and heat will be applied to your teeth and you will be required to grade the level of the pain/sensitivity. Percussion and palpation will also play a role in diagnosis. A bite test might be performed, if a cracked tooth is suspected. If necessary, referrals will be made to specialists at the dentist’s recommendation.

A diagnosis is made from the review of the data that was collected and recorded during the clinical examination, supplemented by the necessary radiographs and/or study models and/or the results of any tests or consultation. The dentist will provide you with a treatment plan consisting of urgency and order of treatment, the options for materials and methods,  alternatives (including no treatment), all recommendations, instructions and advice, risks and complications associated with each treatment, financial implications, and arrangement for payment options.

Once you have made a decision with respect to the choice of treatment and informed consent has been obtained, we will proceed with treatment.

Dental pain is most often due to tooth decay, or an inflammation or infection of the pulpal tissue. Performing endodontic treatment can significantly reduce the pain.

Studies have shown that pulpotomy and pulpectomy treatments alleviate pain and can restore the health of the tooth.

During a pulpotomy, a dentist/endodontist removes the coronal pulp (the pulp above the gum line, within the main part of the tooth). A pulpotomy can only be completed on a tooth that is still alive, meaning that it responds to temperature and has sensation and vascular flow. For this procedure to be successful, it is important there is no abscess in the area. In approximately 90% of cases, pulpotomy treatment reduces pain symptoms within a day.

A pulpectomy is a procedure that entirely removes the pulp from all parts of a tooth, including the root system. The main goal of the procedure is to clean the entire root canal, protecting it from further infection and to prevent it from spreading the infection into the surrounding apical bone. Root canal treatment can sometimes be combined with an incision for drainage and occlusal reduction. All these procedures are performed under local anesthesia.

Once root canal therapy is completed, your tooth should be examined periodically (the time between appointments will be recommended by your dentist). This allows us to ensure that the tooth has healed and/or is healing properly. Since an abscess may take 2 or more years to heal, the tooth should be re-evaluated once a year for at least a few years after treatment.

In many cases, patients come to us only when the tooth is too damaged to be saved. Then we   need to perform an extraction. The extraction can be non-surgical or surgical, depending on the tooth’s roots, surrounding bone and how badly damaged the tooth is.

One of the various tooth extraction techniques is called alveolotomy. An alveolotomy involves removing part of the alveolar and cortical bone in some complicated cases. It is performed whenever there are elements of difficulty and involves a minimal, controlled loss of supporting bone, avoiding uncontrolled fractures and accidents during extraction.

At Pacifica Dental, we believe in providing our patients with access to the best dental technology available. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) have been clinically proven to help patients heal faster with fewer complications after dental surgery and other procedures.

Did You Know?

PRP and PRF can help you:

  • Heal faster and get back to work and other activities quickly after a surgical dental procedure.
  • Reduce your need for strong pain-medication and anti-inflammatories following dental surgery.
  • Greatly lower the risk of infection after oral surgery.

Best of all, PRP and PRF are 100% natural.

In general, after a simple extraction, the recovery period is 5-10 days, until the resorbable sutures are dissolved. After a surgical (more complicated) extraction, the recovery is within 2 weeks,  however, the nonresorbable sutures and membranes will be removed after a month during a follow up appointment. We highly recommend that patients do not smoke, drink alcohol, swish, suck, or rinse the mouth on the day of the extraction. Icing is recommended for 2 days in order to avoid swelling and decrease bruising.

If you are in any kind of dental pain, don’t waste any time and schedule an emergency appointment with Pacifica Dental. We will take care of you as soon as possible and we will make sure you have a quick and successful recovery.