Our Dental Blog

How Do We Extract Wisdom Teeth?

October 7, 2019
wisdom tooth extraction

For our patients in their teen years, wisdom teeth pose a serious risk. Once they erupt, they could lead to poor oral health, misalignment, and other major oral health complications. In order to protect smiles in Kansas City, MO, your dentist may perform a safe and comfortable dental extraction. How do we extract wisdom teeth, and what happens afterward?

Ensuring Your Comfort

Wisdom teeth, or third molars, tend to arrive as we leave our teen years and enter adulthood. For a small few, they may pose no risk and arrive without incident. However, for most the risk of a painful partial eruption, known as an impaction, is high. In addition, they have a negative impact on the alignment of your teeth, and misalignment only not only harms your smile’s appearance but increases the risk of TMJ disorder, bruxism, tooth decay, and gum disease. You may suffer from serious discomfort as a result of your new teeth.

To begin the removal process, we will administer a local anesthetic around the area from which we will extract the teeth. We can also discuss sedation dentistry options, which helps you enter a calm and relaxed state that lasts throughout the procedure. You have little to no memory of the procedure, despite remaining conscious.

Removing the Tooth

After we administer a local anesthetic and sedation, we will open the area above the tooth and gently remove the tooth from within with a pair of forceps. Then, we need to suture the area closed. As the sedation may take time to wear off, we suggest arranging for a friend or family member to bring you home. We will provide detailed aftercare instructions!

Aftercare

You will need to take it easy the day or two following the procedure and avoid strenuous activity. We also suggest never prodding the area with your tongue, and consuming mainly soft food, like soup, for the first couple days You should continue to brush and floss, but do so gently. We will schedule follow-up visits so we can monitor your smile as it heals and then remove the sutures. With wisdom teeth, there is no need to discuss replacement options. However, if we remove a tooth due to decay, infection, or injury, we can offer options to fill the gap in your smile, such as a custom-made dental bridge or even a single tooth dental implant. If you like to learn more about the extraction process and recovery period, then please contact our team today. We’re here to help you gain a better understanding of any treatments your smile may need!

Do You Have Questions About Extraction?

Our team can help return your smile’s health and beauty with a dental extraction. To learn more about removing wisdom teeth, then please schedule a consultation by calling Cosmetic & Implant Dentistry of Kansas City, MO, today at 816-427-4018.