While our goal at Dentistry at Hickory Flat is to help you maintain your teeth for a lifetime, sometimes achieving optimum oral health requires a tooth to be removed. There are different situations that might require an extraction and your dentist in Canton can help determine when you might need one.
Wisdom Teeth
Also known as third molars, wisdom teeth are the last of your molars to arrive. They typically come in around the ages of 18-25 years old, and they come in behind your second molars, far back in your mouth. Wisdom teeth are usually extracted for various reasons such as:
- There’s not enough space for them in your mouth and they may crowd your other teeth
- They often come in at odd angles that can affect your other teeth
- They are hard to reach and keep clean with brushing and flossing
- Sometimes they remain impacted, or stuck beneath the gum line, which can cause an infection
It’s a common procedure to remove wisdom teeth, and it is recommended to maintain most patients’ oral health.
Orthodontic Treatment
Patients who are living with teeth that are crowded or overlap may benefit from extracting teeth for orthodontic treatment. After removing the teeth, your orthodontist will use braces to close the space and align your smile.
Dental Infections
If your tooth sustains a fracture, crack, decay, or trauma, it could become infected. Dental infections are painful and typically cause a severe toothache; they also won’t go away without treatment. If you are proactive about seeking treatment for your infection, root canal therapy may be able to preserve your tooth. If your infection progresses beyond what root canal therapy can restore, your tooth will need to be extracted in order to prevent your infection from spreading.
Contact Dentistry at Hickory Flat
Our highly skilled team at Dentistry at Hickory Flat can help you determine if you need an extraction and we can guide you through the process. Our doctors are caring, gentle, and even offer options for dental sedation to help you through the process. Complex extractions may be referred to a trusted oral surgeon in the area, but we handle most extraction cases here at our Canton office.
Give us a call today to learn more about how we can help you.