Do you have older teens getting ready to start college in the fall? As they approach adulthood, this could mean up to four new teeth erupting in the rear of their mouth. To prevent this, we need to extract these wisdom teeth. In today’s blog, your Sunny Smiles team talks about removing wisdom teeth during the summer.
The Risks of Wisdom Teeth
What risks will wisdom teeth pose for your smile, or for your child’s? As we approach our adult years, up to four new teeth can arrive in the rear of the mouth. Since there is rarely room to accommodate them, this could cause teeth to shift and create misalignment. If your teen has completed orthodontic care, this could undo the results! The teeth could also only partially erupt, known as an impaction, due to lack of room. The risk of infection and damaged teeth increase as well. To help prevent these complications, we want to carefully and gently extract them before they erupt.
Planning Your Gentle Tooth Extraction
To begin the process, we will look closely at your smile with digital x-rays, peering into the jawbone to assess the position of these teeth and to plan the extraction in detail. We can ensure we avoid any contact with blood vessels, nerve tissue, and sinus cavities, so the procedure is a fast and effective one, protecting your smile from major complications. To ensure the removal process is comfortable for our patients, we can numb the area directly with a local anesthesia, and then offer a form of sedation to help you enter a deep state of calm and relaxation, even if you have high anxiety levels or special needs that impaction your ability to undergo dental care. We can choose from options like nitrous oxide, oral conscious sedation, and even IV sedation.
The Tooth Extraction Process
Now, let’s talk about how we remove the teeth. Once we have planned the process in detail and numbed and sedated you, we will open the gums above the teeth so that we can access them and then gently remove them with a pair for forceps. We then suture the area closed. For the next day or two, the area will heal, as a clot forms. To prevent this from dislodging, be sure you avoid straw use, eat soft foods for a day or two, brush and floss carefully, and see us again for a follow-up appointment. We will provide aftercare instructions and prescriptions for medications to aid in the process!
Call Sunny Smiles for Wisdom Tooth Extraction
We can help prepare your kids for their fall semester with a wisdom tooth extraction! To find out more about our office or to schedule an appointment, please call Sunny Smiles Family Dentistry at 915.849.9000 today.