There comes a time in most of our lives when our health begins to take a higher level of importance. It seems to happen overnight; you get a little older and you want to start taking care of yourself. This usually means checking in with your dentist and dental care team, and getting back on track with your dental hygiene routine. Sometimes though, those checkups are not a lot of fun, because it turns out you need a tooth extracted, or multiple teeth. In that case you may be wondering what the best course of action is, what you can expect, and what the difference between simple and surgical extraction is.
Reasons why you need a tooth extracted
1. Dental Infection: Especially if you have been away for awhile, you may come back and realize you need a lot of work done in your mouth. The most common culprit is advanced dental infection. This infection is a byproduct of not cleaning your teeth properly, regularly, or at all. These food particles fester and form bacteria farms, where harmful tissue-eating bacteria grows like corn in Iowa.
2. Disease: It could be dental disease, and it could be other kinds of immune compromising disease, or nutrient depleting disease. There are plenty of unfortunate or scary conditions out there that wreak havoc on your teeth and gums, and in some cases those teeth have to be removed.
3. Trauma: If your teeth, jaw, or face have been struck by something–or youve suffered a traumatic injury or event; you may need dental work. Sometimes this dental work will also require surgery, or a surgical extraction. Every patient is different.
Surgical vs Standard Extraction
The reason for the tooth removal, and the patient’s health history will help to dictate the method of extraction. Suffice it to say, the surgical extraction is more involved. It may involve anesthesia, and it could involve a longer time to remove the tooth or tooth pieces. A standard extraction can be done while the patient is awake. Every person is different, and everyone’s insurance coverage varies.
Why would you need Surgical extraction as opposed to a Standard?
A surgical Extraction would be more precise in the event:
- A broken/decayed Tooth: It may be that the best way to remove all the pieces of the tooth is to get in there surgically and remove them shard by shard. It is also possible that the tooth is not strong enough to be removed traditionally, and so surgery is recommended.
- Crowded Teeth: In the event that too many teeth are layered up in a bunch, the act of trying to wrench one free would potentially shift many teeth around, which could cause major problems.
- Trauma: There could be a situation where your teeth or jaw are damaged beyond the point of traditional dentistry. In this case a surgical touch would be advised in order to account for the trauma experienced. This may also be advantageous for jaw/gum work.