Do I Really Need an Extraction?

​Sometimes a toothache is a temporary thing. Perhaps something got stuck between teeth causing gum irritation. Maybe you had a bad night and were clenching or grinding. Maybe a cavity is beginning to form. And sometimes the toothache pain is unbearable and just won’t go away. This is not a time to ignore the pain. An infected or damaged tooth that causes this type of prolonged pain will most likely require treatment by a dentist and could require an extraction. Delaying treatment can cause much greater problems, including overall infection that can spread to gums and other teeth or even cause an infection in your whole body. There are some serious complications that can be caused by untreated tooth infection.

So how do you know if your tooth needs to be extracted? Look for these symptoms:

• Continuous, acute tooth pain
• Tooth pain that gets worse when chewing or biting down
• Jaw pain or stiffness
• Pain in a tooth that has had a previous root canal or filling
• Signs of infection (redness, swelling, spreading to nearby area)
• Recent trauma to the tooth
• Damage to the tooth
• Fever accompanied by any of the above symptoms

Note: Wisdom teeth often need to be removed due to over-crowding, teeth that are coming in crooked either above or below the gum surface. Wisdom teeth can affect other teeth and can sometimes become impacted.

At Just Pull It, our skilled dentists will evaluate your tooth and make a recommendation for the best course of action. Some teeth can be saved and we will certainly suggest saving the tooth where possible. While planning a replacement at the same time of the extraction is great, many of our patients don’t have the time or the budget to make the decision right away. It’s best to get a professional opinion as soon as possible, the risks of delay can be serious That’s why our mission is to provide low cost, safe, single visit extractions for our patients who need them. 

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