For a lot of people, they only visit a dentist if they require tooth extractions. But this should not be the case at all. You need regular dental checkups and cleanings to ensure healthy teeth and gums.
Tooth extractions, however, can sometimes be necessary. If the tooth can no longer be treated (severely decayed, badly fractured or very loose), your dentist will recommend a tooth removal. It’s also necessary if you have an impacted wisdom tooth or if you have severely misaligned teeth. In other cases, it may be necessary to clear some space in your mouth.
Tooth extraction can be done without surgery. The procedure involves the use of anesthesia to lessen the pain. In other cases, a surgical extraction may be required. This is usually the case when the tooth isn’t easy to access with the dental forceps. It may not have broken through the gum line fully, or the tooth may have broken under the gum line. Either way, the surgical process involves making an incision through the gum line to access the tooth. Usually, the tooth is broken up into smaller pieces so it is easier to remove.
Once your tooth is removed, you will need time to heal from the procedure afterwards. During the first hour or so you shouldn’t be alarmed if there’s bleeding in the extraction spot. That’s normal. It takes an hour or so for a blood clot to form around the socket so you don’t bleed anymore.
Afterwards there will still be an open wound on that spot over the socket. That wound will need a whole week to heal. Then you will need a month or two for the soft gum tissue to come in and fill in the socket where your tooth used to be. Finally, there’s a final socket closure stage, and the remodeling of the bone underneath can take 6 months.