Understanding the Difference: Tooth Extraction Vs. Teeth Pulling

Removing a tooth from its dental socket has different names, with some dentists calling it tooth extraction while others use simple terms, say teeth pulling. Tooth extractions or teeth pulling are both painful. Unfortunately, many do not know that tooth extractions are a standard procedure in dentistry performed on many people, including children and seniors.

For starters, there is no difference between tooth extraction vs. teeth pulling because both processes remove a tooth entirely from the socket using simple or surgical techniques. Visible teeth with infections or injuries are removed by tooth extractions in Burlington, ON, using a simple process which does not require them to make incisions in the gums or insert sutures after removing the tooth.

Simple Extractions

If you have an infected tooth entirely visible in your mouth but causing problems like pain and sensitivity, the dentist in Burlington makes all efforts possible to preserve the tooth by offering remedial actions like root canals, dental crowns, et cetera. Unfortunately, if the tooth is likely to impact your oral and general health, the dentist suggests extraction, removal, or pulling to prevent additional complications from affecting your mouth.

With simple extractions, the dentist performs the procedure in the dental office after taking x-rays of the tooth to ascertain the extent of the damage it has created. If you accept the dentist’s proposal to remove the tooth, they will schedule your procedure, asking you to arrive on a specific date for a short appointment.

The tooth targeted for removal is numbed by injecting anesthesia into the mouth. You will likely feel a stinging sensation when the dentist injects the anesthesia. However, you will soon lose all sense around the tooth to allow the dentist to loosen the tooth using elevators before pulling, removing, or extracting with forceps. Immediately following tooth removal, the dentist places a gauze pad over the dental socket to inhibit bleeding and allow blood clot formation. You can return home immediately after tooth pulling or extraction with instructions from the dentist to care for the empty socket and get it filled at the earliest to prevent your remaining natural teeth from moving into the empty void. You can recover within three to four days after a simple tooth removal.

Surgical Tooth Extraction

Many patients need surgical tooth extractions on nonvisible teeth either impacted and hidden in the gums and jawbone or broken at the gum line. In such instances, the Burlington dentist requests your medical records and dental history to develop a tailor-made plan for the removal.

Surgical tooth extractions are necessitated by teeth not visible in your jaw. In such instances, the teeth remain hidden in the gums with some jawbone covering it or teeth that have been harmed at the gum line.

Before performing surgical extractions, the Burlington dentist will consider your dental and medical history and inquire into your dental anxiety to ensure they create a customized treatment plan to help you proceed with the extraction without worry or fear. They offer you help to overcome dental anxiety by prescribing oral conscious sedation, which they request you to take one hour before your appointment and arrive at the dental clinic fully relaxed. However, the dentist demands someone drive you to and from the dental practice because the sedation makes you feel drowsy and incapable of operating vehicles or machinery.

After you arrive at the dentist’s practice, they escort you to the dentist’s chair and provide anesthesia in the mouth to block distress instincts from the impacted or broken tooth. After your mouth is fully numb, the dentist makes an incision in the connective tissue surrounding the tooth for access for extraction. They may lift the soft tissue or use a drill to remove adjacent bones covering the tooth. They may also fragment the tooth into pieces for easy removal. As surgical extractions are invasive, you receive complete anesthesia. You must remain in the dentist’s office until after you have recovered, and the dentist permits you to go home with after-care instructions to ensure you recover quickly without complications. You can recover from surgical extractions in approximately ten days if you follow the dentist’s instructions by caring for your mouth and the surgical site.

Tooth extractions, pulling, or removal are all different terms for the same procedure for removing teeth from your jaw because of infections, injuries, impaction, or aging. Dentists term the process differently, but it generally means extracting teeth from the mouth for the abovementioned reasons.

If one dentist has advised pulling your teeth or another has said your tooth needs extraction, understand the different terms. Instead, visit Walkers Line Dental Center to have the tooth removed because the terminology for removing teeth is different with every dentist. However, the procedure remains unchanged because you lose a tooth from your mouth to a process performed by the dentist.