Simple Extraction Steps

If you have tooth damage as a result of injury, an accident, or tooth decay, your dentist will always make every effort to preserve your natural tooth. Standard treatments include repairing cavities or decay in your teeth, placing a crown, or recommending a root canal. But if you do need a tooth extraction, your dentist or oral surgeon will perform either a simple extraction or a surgical extraction to remove a tooth, depending on your individual needs.

Tooth extraction that can be accomplished from above the gums and that does not involve surgical instruments for removing soft tissue to expose teeth or breaking the tooth into pieces is categorized as a simple tooth extraction.

Understanding the Simple Tooth Extraction Process

For some patients, and depending on individual oral health circumstances, extracting a tooth is the best option, especially when the tooth has been badly damaged and cannot be repaired, the patient is not a suitable candidate for a root canal, or overcrowding in a patient’s mouth cannot be easily remedied through orthodontic treatments.

For a simple extraction, your dentist will confirm that the tooth has straight roots and enough solid structure above the gums for use of dental tools to lift, grasp, and remove the tooth.

Work with your dentist and discuss whether you are an appropriate candidate for a simple tooth extraction. Your dentist will describe the following steps for the procedure:

  1. Step 1–Anesthetic. Your dentist will apply a topical anesthetic gel prior to the anesthetic injection to minimize any discomfort caused by the injection itself.
  2. Step 2–Release Periodontal Ligament Fibers. Regardless of the condition of the tooth intended for extraction, the periodontal ligament fibers that suspend the tooth from the bony socket must be released for successful extraction from the mouth.
  3. Step 3–Loosen and Elevate the Tooth. Your dentist will use a tool called an elevator to loosen the tooth from the bony socket structure. The elevator is used to make the socket large enough so the tooth can be removed.
  4. Step 4–Extraction. Using a forceps tool, your dentist will grasp the loosened tooth and remove it from your mouth.
  5. Step 5–Perform Ridge Preservation. If your dentist recommends that you replace the extracted tooth as soon as possible, he or she will immediately follow a simple tooth extraction with ridge preservation via a socket graft procedure. Placing bone graft material in the vacant tooth socket slows the bone reabsorption process and can help keep the bony ridge in your jaw at the same height and width to better support the replacement tooth. When this procedure does not occur immediately after simple tooth extraction, the bony ridge immediately begins to deteriorate, which can affect the success of future tooth replacement.
  6. Step 6–Minimize Bleeding. Your tooth sockets do not have major blood vessels, but simple tooth extraction can still result in bleeding. Your dentist will apply pressure and then gauze to the tooth socket to minimize bleeding.

Safe Procedure and Comfortable Recovery

Follow all pre- and post-operative instructions your dentist provides so you have a safe procedure and comfortable recovery. Contact your dentist as soon as possible if you experience a sudden or severe increase in mouth pain; bleeding that persists for eight hours or more; or if you have a fever, chills, or visible, yellowish discharge around the extraction site.

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