During your tooth extraction appointment, your dentist will use a local anaesthetic to make sure the area being treated is fully numb, so you won’t feel any discomfort. If you’re nervous about the anaesthetic, speak to your dentist about the other options available, like sedation, and they’ll be able to recommend the most suitable.
In order to remove your tooth, your dentist might need to take a little gum or bone tissue away first, especially when it’s impacting the tooth needing to be removed. This is particularly common with wisdom teeth. Once the anaesthetic has taken effect, your dentist will use dental forceps to remove your tooth. This is done by moving the tooth back and forth to detach it.
Once the tooth has been fully removed, your dentist will use gauze to stop any bleeding, and use stitches to repair the gap should this be necessary. The whole treatment shouldn’t take longer than 15 minutes.
For more information on tooth extractions, or if you have any queries about our services, get in touch today.
Not to mention the sleepless nights and time off work or education. These problems are commonly caused by a tooth decay and /or recurrent infection in or around the wisdom teeth.
The decision to remove any wisdom tooth is made following a careful examination and discussion our oral surgery specialists. At your consultation appointment you will be advised about whether your wisdom tooth/teeth need removing and you will also be advised regarding the risks and benefits for such a procedure. Wisdom tooth removal may also be done for other reasons such as orthodontic therapy or as part of more complex corrective jaw operations.
We offer wisdom tooth removal under local anaesthetic with or without sedation for phobic patients.
Surgical removal can be required for several reasons. Often, wisdom teeth get stuck (‘impacted’) against the adjacent tooth or within the jawbone and are not able to come through fully into the mouth.
A partially exposed wisdom tooth can be difficult to keep clean. This can then cause chronic infection and discomfort in the surrounding gum tissue. Such infections may require treatment with antibiotics.
A wisdom tooth can also become decayed or cause decay in neighbouring teeth. Your dentist may not be able to treat this decay until the wisdom tooth has been removed.
This depends on the position of your tooth and the way it is impacted. Some can be quite straightforward to remove. More commonly, simple extraction is not possible and surgery is necessary to remove it.
The type of the surgery needed depends on the position of the wisdom tooth. This may influence whether your operation is carried out under local anaesthesia alone or with additional intravenous sedation.
All options can be discussed with you during a consultation appointment.
This again depends on the position of your tooth, and whether the operation is being carried out with local anaesthesia alone or with additional intravenous sedation.
An appointment for surgery under local anaesthesia usually lasts 45 minutes. When intravenous sedation is used, an appointment usually lasts 90 minutes. The longer time allows for the recovery period needed before you can be discharged home.
This depends on the operation. If there are any issues in particular to be aware of, they will be discussed with you beforehand. There may be swelling and bruising in the area of surgery as well as some discomfort which might limit jaw opening. Bruising is usually at its most obvious two to three days after surgery and varies between patients. It normally resolves itself after 10 to 14 days.
Occasionally, an impacted lower wisdom tooth can be very close to nerves supplying the lower teeth, lip, chin, cheek and tongue. These can get bruised when the tooth is removed, resulting in the sensation of numbness or tingling in these areas.
This change in sensation only affects 2-5% of patients and is usually temporary. It can take up to six months to fully resolve itself. It only very rarely becomes permanent. If this is a factor for you to be aware of, due to the proximity of your wisdom tooth to the nerves, we will discuss it with you during your consultation.
If appropriate, we might advise that it would be beneficial to arrange a further investigation to assess this potential proximity between your wisdom tooth and the nerve. This would comprise a specialized CT scan to provide a three-dimensional image of the area. A written report of the scan’s findings would also be provided; a further consultation appointment would then be arranged to discuss this report.
After your surgery, we will give you an information sheet with instructions to help bring about a quick recovery. We will discuss this with you before you are discharged home, to ensure that the information is clear and understood.
The main points are as follows.
On the same day, after the operation:
From the following day onward: