Abbott Family Dentistry, LLC

Extraction of the teeth is often referred to as pulling teeth.  The actual act of pulling a tooth is not really what is done. When removing a tooth, control forces are applied with elevators, luxators, and specially designed forceps.  There sometimes is an actual pulling of the tooth but when this is done, it is almost always a minor part of the procedure.  At times incision in soft tissue, sectioning of the tooth into more than one piece, and removing bone from around the tooth is done.

When a surgical hand piece is needed, in our office we use a hand piece that is designed for just surgical removal of teeth.  This hand piece is different from the one used when treating a cavity or doing a crown prep.  The most important differences is that the surgical hand piece does not have air blowing out the end and the water used is sterile water or sterile saline.

Those "pliers" patients often refer to when it comes to removing teeth are not pliers but are actually extraction forceps.  The working end of extraction forceps are much different than those of pliers.  I bring this up because I have had to manage the damage from people actually trying to use pliers to remove their own tooth, the tooth shattered and the extraction becomes a much more difficult and expensive treatment.  The message to you is do not use pliers to remove your own tooth, you will likely regret it!

Once a tooth is extracted the socket (hole) where the tooth used to be will eventually fill in with bone and gum tissue. In some cases we recommend a bone graft at the time of extraction. About a year after the tooth is removed the width of the tooth can be 20% less in a year. If the end goal is to place an implant, we may recommend a clear retainer with a false "tooth" to maintain the space between teeth.