Exploring the World of Dental Extractions
With so much emphasis being placed on maintaining the appearance of your natural teeth for as long as possible, it’s easy to forget that there may times when a dental extraction can become an important element to your smile’s overall appearance and functionality.
For that reason, it’s important to understand why a dentist in Katy such as Ultra White Dental may recommend a dental extraction even when their primary goal is to help patients maintain the health of their teeth for a lifetime.
When a Tooth Can Not Be Salvaged or Restored
Your Katy dentist will do everything possible to restore a tooth that’s become damaged due to an untreated cavity, infection, or dental trauma.
Some of these treatments may include a root canal, a dental crown, or dental inlays and onlays, to name a few procedures.
But when the trauma is severe, or the decay and infection from a cavity have invaded too much of your natural tooth’s structure to prevent the helpful use of other restorative dental treatments in Katy, your dentist will recommend an extraction to stop the possibility of the infection from spreading into your gum tissue or other parts of your mouth or body.
In cases such as this, the good news is that the tooth can be replaced with a prosthetic tooth such as a dental implant, a dental bridge, or even a partial denture.
It’s important to remember that when a tooth has to be extracted for the reasons mentioned above, it will be important to replace it with one of the options mentioned, so you don’t experience additional dental concerns down the road when your other teeth shift out of place in their attempt to fill the gap.
Natural Adult Teeth May Suffer from Overcrowding
One of the more common procedures performed in childhood dentistry is tooth extractions to prevent overcrowding of adult teeth.
But if you’re an adult who didn’t benefit from this procedure when you were younger, you can still achieve a more even-looking smile with an extraction process for over-crowding.
Afterward, you can choose to further enhance the appearance of your smile with the use of dental aligner treatment or dental veneer treatment such as Lumineers® from a Katy dentist near you.
The main takeaway is that you’re never too old to benefit from a smile correction for overcrowded teeth.
In fact, when you contact Ultra White Dental, we can develop a comprehensive treatment plan for any level of smile makeover that you’ve been dreaming of. Call today and speak with a member of our dental care team to get scheduled for a consultation.
Types of Dental Extractions Performed in Modern Dentistry
In a world that can often become increasingly confusing by the number of options available, you’ll be happy to learn that there are only two types of dental extractions – a simple extraction and a surgical extraction.
The main difference between the two is as easy as their names imply. Simple extractions will not require surgery, but surgical extractions will.
Surgical extractions are most commonly performed for the removal of wisdom teeth or when a tooth has been damaged by trauma, and a major portion of it has been broken off.
When a major portion of a patient’s tooth is still remaining above the gumline, your dentist will be able to use dental instruments – such as forceps – to grab hold of the tooth for removal without having to cut into the gum tissue.
What to Expect After the Extraction Process
Your dentist will provide you with a complete set of post-procedure instructions for at-home care. They will vary depending on the type of extraction that was performed, as well as other factors such as your general health, medications, and whether or not you received stitches.
There will be some instructions that will be common to all procedures such as limitation in foods and physical activity, as well as keeping the extraction area clean. It will be critically important for you to follow the post-extraction instructions that were given to you to avoid complications from the procedure or having to seek emergency dentistry in Katy.
If you’re considering a dental extraction and want to know more about the procedure and what to expect afterward, we invite you to contact Ultra White Dental today to have your questions answered.