Tooth Extractions in Phoenix, AZ

Everyone wants to be able to smile with ease and confidence. Maintaining a healthy smile should be relatively easy with proper oral care and regular dental appointments. At Armitage Dental, our team will always work to save your teeth. But still, there are occasions when a tooth extraction is needed to achieve and maintain that healthy smile.

What Are Tooth Extractions?

Tooth extraction is neither as frightening nor as complicated as it may sound. Some tooth extraction procedures are pretty regular such as wisdom tooth removal. Generally, wisdom teeth are removed due to infection, overcrowding, impaction, partial immersion, or restorative reasons. Most teens and adults require wisdom tooth removal at some point in their lives.

Other reasons for tooth extraction might include extensive decay, abscesses, tooth injury, or periodontal disease. When a patient has to undergo treatment for braces, they may also need to have one or more teeth removed to allow other teeth to shift into the proper positions. 

How Is a Tooth Extracted?

While tooth extraction sounds like a long and challenging procedure, it is relatively simple and painless. And it is usually done in just one dental visit. It’s also an outpatient procedure so that patients can recover in the comfort of their own homes.

Tooth extraction is performed under local anesthetic or anesthesia. When the tooth is extracted, it may be removed whole or in pieces, depending on its location and tooth health. If necessary, there may be a need to cut into the gum line and remove some bone surrounding the tooth to wholly and safely extract it.

What to Do During the Recovery Period

Recovering from a tooth extraction procedure is very quick and fast. Here are some recovery tips that should be followed to speed up healing, all of which are simple and easy to accomplish.

• Avoid eating hard or chewy foods, like candy or gum. Using a straw or sucking on lollipops/popsicles/etc. is not recommended either, since the sucking action can disturb the blood clot that had formed over the extraction site.
• Avoid drinking alcohol, hot beverages, smoking, and chewing tobacco, as all of these harmful habits can hamper healing. To hasten the recovery process, it is vital to keep the extraction site from drying out, bleeding, or becoming irritated.
• Change the gauze regularly, take the prescribed medications, and sleep with heads elevated. 
• Eat foods that are easy to chew and drink plenty of fluids.

Getting a tooth extracted is a relatively routine procedure. If you need a tooth extraction, visit us at Armitage Dental or contact us at (623) 872-8686 to schedule an appointment.