Tooth Extraction Los Angeles

The team of experts at Wilshire Smile Studio, including a leading oral surgeon, will do everything they can to preserve your natural teeth, from keeping the gums that hold them in place healthy to performing root canals to clean out deep infection.

But there are cases when the best way to preserve the health of the rest of your mouth is to remove a tooth.

Some of the conditions include:

• A broken tooth can’t be repaired and will need to be replaced by an implant or a bridge between the neighboring teeth to keep the gap created from causing misalignment of the rest of the teeth.
• A filling or crown comes off and reveals that the tooth underneath is too decayed to simply be fixed.
• Too many teeth are crowded in one area so that they are hard to clean and don’t provide an attractive smile.
• Wisdom teeth (the last one at the back of each side of the upper and lower jaw) have not emerged through the gums in the right way, so that food gets trapped below the gum line and the wisdom teeth put pressure on the others, causing crowding that creates further cleaning problems.
• Advanced gum disease that has caused the underlying bone holding the tooth to deteriorate, requiring the extraction and then a bone graft.
• The removal is needed to prepare for orthodontic work or to improve the fit of dentures.
• Extraction is required because a tooth is infected with cancer or affected by radiation.

Tooth Removal Procedures

There are two types of extractions:

• A simple extraction – this procedure is on a tooth that can be seen in the mouth. For a simple extraction, the dentist loosens the tooth with an instrument called an elevator. Then the dentist uses forceps to remove the tooth.
• A surgical extraction – this is a more complex procedure, which is used if a tooth may have broken off at the gum line or has not erupted in the mouth. The oral surgeon will make a small incision into your gum to surgically remove the broken tooth or impacted wisdom tooth.

Wilshire Smile Studio has a team of experts and the latest technology and procedure to make extraction less difficult:

• Digital x-ray (which uses a tiny amount of radiation) to show what the tooth looks like under the gum and the amount of bone underlying it.
• 3-D CT scan to provide a more detailed view of the teeth and nerves to determine the exact course our oral surgeon should take.
• Topical numbing solution is applied and local anesthesia
• Nitrous Oxide (laughing gas)
• Mild Sedation with a benzodiazepine pill
• Intravenous drip (IV Sedation)
• Prescription the appropriate pain medication to be taken for a short time before switching to over-the-counter options.

Post-surgical Care

• We will give post-surgical instructions
• Gauze pads to bite on
• Ice pack (bag of frozen vegetables) should be applied to the area to keep swelling to a minimum, which subsides after 48 hours.
• Drink lots of fluids and only eat soft, nutritious foods (avoid hard or crunchy foods like nuts and popcorn) for two or three days, and avoid drinking through a straw, spitting, or smoking (resume normal habits when comfortable).

Our office staff and surgical team are available to answer any questions you may have before and after your surgical appointments.

 323-DENTIST (336-8478).