How Painful is Surgical Extraction?
Surgical tooth extraction is the operative removal of a tooth. The most common reason we do this procedure is a tooth that has not erupted in the mouth, has erupted only partially, or a tooth or teeth that are causing over-crowding in your mouth. We might also perform surgical extraction if the tooth that needs pulling broken from disease or trauma. Teeth in these conditions can cause pain, severe inflammation, or damage to adjacent and other surrounding teeth, which makes removal necessary. Removal of an ingrown residual tooth root from a previous extraction sometimes has to be solved with surgical extraction as well.
What happens in a surgical extraction?
During surgical tooth extraction, it is necessary to gain access to the tooth being removed - an incision is made in the gum and other mouth tissue and folds them back, allowing access to the tooth. After tissue is folded back, the required extent of bone is exposed. After removing the most necessary but sufficient amount of bone (usually with a drill), the tooth is removed in whole or in parts. This is followed by toileting of the surgical wound, any sharp edges of the bone are smoothed, and the detached gum is adapted to the site, and the wound is closed by suturing the soft tissues.
Surgical extraction is usually an outpatient procedure. There are a number of operative procedures. In general, it can be said that the planned procedure is usually performed in a regular dental office. To ensure the cleanliness needed for surgery, the area around the mouth is disinfected and the mouth is rinsed with disinfectant mouthwash. We perform surgical extractions while you are under high-quality local anesthesia, which means you will not feel any pain during the procedure, only sometimes unpleasant pressure.
Healing time and Pain
The healing time and how much post-operative pain you feel will depend on the scope of the operation, on your overall health and ability to heal, but also on the occurrence of possible complications. During the procedure, you won’t feel anything. Directly after surgical extraction, you may feel some slight pain, especially as the anesthesia is wearing off; this is normal. You may experience this pain for 24-48 hours, depending on your case. This pain should subside after about 3 days and might be replaced with a dull ache. If we’ve used them, stitches are usually removed after 7 days, which can feel uncomfortable while they are being removed. Once the sutures are removed, you should take another week or so to heal fully.
If you experience pain beyond two weeks, it could be a sign of complications, such as infection. In the case of infection, it is necessary to take antibiotics, so please contact us if you are having significant pain after the initial few days of the surgery. Soft tissues usually heal completely after a few weeks, bone grows back after a few months. Surgical extraction and wound healing tend to be easier and more favorable at a younger age.
In Conclusion
Surgical extraction is a very common procedure. While it is usually accompanied by slight discomfort afterwards, it is painless during due to anesthesia. Contact us today and we can help put any fears to rest about this and other procedures!