What to Do before Tooth Extraction?
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What to Do before Tooth Extraction?

Tooth extraction becomes necessary during adulthood for many reasons. Some teenagers and adults might get their wisdom teeth removed. Besides wisdom teeth, issues like excessive tooth decay, infections, and crowding require tooth removal. If you intend to get braces to straighten teeth, you may need one or two teeth removed to make space for the other teeth to shift into place. In addition, people undergoing chemotherapy or planning to have an organ transplant may need compromised teeth removal to keep their mouth healthy.

Extractions are generally performed by dentists or oral surgeons in a relatively quick outpatient procedure, giving you local, sedation, or intravenous anesthesia. The removal of visible teeth is called a straightforward extraction. However, broken teeth lying below the surface of the gum line or impacted teeth require an intensive procedure.

How Should I Prepare for a Tooth Extraction?

Before scheduling tooth removal, your dentist x-rays your tooth. During your appointment, provide your dentist information of the medications you take, including vitamins, supplements, and over-the-counter drugs, before tooth extraction.

Provide your dentist with information about whether you will receive treatment for another medical condition soon with intravenous drugs called a bisphosphonate. In such cases, tooth removal is better performed before treatment with the drug to avoid putting your jaw at risk of osteonecrosis.

The dentist in Summerland, BC, inquires whether you are affected by conditions like diabetes, thyroid disease, hypertension, renal disease, liver disease, congenital heart defects or a history of bacterial endocarditis. The dentist seeks the information to ensure all conditions are stable or treated before undergoing the tooth removal procedure. For example, you might receive antibiotics in the days leading to the procedure if your surgery is expected to be lengthy, you have a specific medical condition, or you have infections or a weakened immune system.

The dentist discusses with you anesthesia options and provides you information to wear loose fitting clothing if you will receive intravenous anesthesia and restrict you from eating or drinking anything for six to eight hours before your appointment.

How Can I Make the Tooth Removal Less Painful?

You don’t have to worry about making the tooth removal process less painful because your dentist accepts responsibility for the same. If you have a visible tooth removed, you receive local anesthesia to numb the area around your tooth, ensuring you only feel pressure and no pain. If you must have a wisdom tooth removed, you receive sedation or intravenous anesthesia to make you calm and relaxed. You also receive local anesthesia in your mouth to block pain impulses making the process entirely comfortable.

Regardless of whether you underwent a visible tooth or impacted tooth removal, you will likely not feel any pain until the numbing medication wears off. If you received sedation would likely feel you spent a few minutes in the dentist’s chair when the procedure may have required over 90 minutes.

What Happens after Tooth Removal?

You can return home immediately after visible tooth removal. However, if you received sedation or intravenous anesthesia, you must remain at the dentist’s office until you recover. When returning home, your dental care provider gives you after-care instructions, which you must follow diligently.

You require a few days to recover from tooth removal procedures. However, the following tips help ensure your recovery proceeds smoothly.

  • Use an ice pack over your cheeks to alleviate the swelling after the procedure. Do not extend the ice packs for over 10 minutes at a time over your cheeks.
  • The dentist places a gauze pad over the extraction site asking you to bite down on it to reduce bleeding and help in clot formation. Let the gauze pad remain on the extraction site for three to four hours until it is soaked with blood.
  • Take any medications prescribed or over-the-counter as suggested.
  • Relax for the initial 24 hours without jumping into your regular routine until the following day.
  • Do not use straws for drinking during the initial 24 hours.
  • Do not smoke, rinse your mouth for 24 hours, or spit vigorously for fear of dislodging the blood clot.
  • Use pillows to prop up your head in an elevated position when sleeping.
  • Brush and floss your teeth regularly, but avoid the extraction site.

You can begin to have soft foods the day following the procedure and gradually reintroduce your regular foods into your diet as you recover.

If you experience pain that does not subside after several days or have signs of infections like fever, pain, drainage, or pus from the surgical site, schedule an appointment to see your dentist at the earliest.

If you must have a tooth or several teeth removed for any reason, please contact Summerland Dental Center to have the procedure without complications.

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