Painless Tooth Extraction
Dental treatment usually brings a picture of pain in the mind. How painful is having a tooth pulled? Details about what a patient may experience during their tooth extraction procedure and why is explained below. Read to know, what our best dentists in Indore do to minimize and manage procedure discomfort.
Is there any pain when the tooth is getting extracted?
Having your tooth pulled will not hurt. But it would be leading you astray if we said that getting one taken out never did. This article explains to you what usually takes place when teeth are taken out and why do you have minor sensations while getting the procedure.
Our expert dentists create a comfortable, trusting environment for your extraction process which helps to ensure that your experience is as pleasant and pain-free as possible. The sensation during the extraction procedure includes the pinch of the needle as the dentist numbs up your teeth and gums. You will feel the back-and-forth pressure that’s used to loosen up your tooth until it’s free enough to come out, but this shouldn’t be confused with feeling pain. Other than this you usually do not feel any discomfort during the procedure.
Before the extraction process begins, the dentists make the tooth and the gum numb. They also test the level of numbness before starting the extraction.
1) Numbing up your tooth.
Before starting with the extraction the tooth is prepared to get numb. This is a common procedure for any type of surgical dental work. The dentist is likely to give one or more injections to numb the tooth, surrounding bone and the gum tissue. In other dental procedures like dental fillings, numbing up the gum tissue and the surrounding bone may not be needed. Once the local anesthesia is given the extraction process may begin after testing the level of numbness.
2) Testing to see if you feel pain.
Once the injection is given, it is expected to numb to affecting areas however there can be times when the initial round of injections are not enough to numb the tooth and its surrounding tissues. So the dentists’ test for numbness. The dentists ask about your lip feeling tingly as this is a sign that the anaesthetic has been effective. He might also press and wiggle on your tooth. This test introduces you to the sensation of pressure that you might feel during the procedure. The dentist also tests your gum tissue, just to make sure you don’t feel anything.
3) Setting up an “it hurts” signal.
Even after testing the anaesthetic level, it is still possible that your tooth isn’t as numb as it needs to be. Thus following the basic protocol, the dentist sets up a signal with the patient to communicate if something is amiss. The agreement between the dentist and the patient should be such where the dentist stops to keep the pain minimum.
Once the initial protocol is followed, the extraction is started. It is normal to feel pressure during extraction. The local anesthetics used to numb the teeth and gum tissue are effective in inhibiting the type of nerve fibers that transmit pain. But they are not as effective on those fibers that transmit the sensation of pressure. Because of this, it’s normal and expected that you will feel the pressure, that your dentist applies to your tooth with their instruments to loosen it.
Tooth extraction or removal may be required if your natural tooth has:
• A tooth decay that severely damages the root of the tooth
• Infection that has ruined a major area of the tooth or the surrounding tissues and bone
How to distinguish between pain and pressure during the extraction.
A common problem that occurs during tooth extractions is that patients sometimes confuse the sensation of pressure with pain. They may not realize that it’s normal and expected for them to feel pressure, or they may not have anticipated the amount of it involved, and therefore mistake feeling it for experiencing pain.
Patients may fail to realize that pain characteristically has a sharpness to it whereas pressure does not. The patient may assume that because the level of pressure is increasing, the pain will also increase soon. But one thing you must know is that the sensations are carried by different types of nerve fibres. Feeling the pressure in no way indicates that your fibres that relay pain hasn’t been successfully anaesthetized.
Why making a distinction between the two is so important.
Understanding the difference between shooting pain and pressure is vital as you may end up misleading the dentist. If you interpret pressure as pain, this might lead the dentist to administer more anaesthesia. However, this will not help you alleviating the sense of pressure, instead, it will place you at greater risk for complications. Anaesthesia can be given based on the patient’s weight, thus needless injection would leave none for the later stage of the procedure. This unwarranted complaint also distracts your dentist from performing the tooth extraction.
Conclusively, painless tooth extraction can be performed. However, you will have to bear the pressure involved during the procedure.
What do I need to do after dental extraction?
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- Bite hard on the gauze for at least an hour.
- Do not change the gauze too frequently (keep gauze for at least 30min) as it prevents effective clotting.
- Drink straight from the cup instead of using a straw.
- Do not rinse vigorously or spit for at least 24 hours.
- You can rinse gently a few times a day with warm salt water after 24 hours.
- Avoid strenuous exercise, hot foods & drinks for the rest of the day to minimize bleeding.
- Have a good rest at home.
- If bleeding occurs, apply clean gauze to wound area and bite firmly for 30min
- Do not disturb the blood clot with your tongue, finger or by any other actions.