Dental Articles - Edmonton

Dentistry has evolved in the recent decades. The level of sophistication that we are approaching has changed the manner in which procedures are executed. This also applies to an upper wisdom tooth extraction in Edmonton. Let’s say your dentist concludes you need to extract your upper wisdom teeth. This could be because they have been impacted, they’ve developed in an unusual way, or that you have cavity or gum diseases. All of these reasons merit an extraction. You are probably thinking extraction of your molars would be extremely painful. But, that is not always the case. The difficulty of the extraction depends on several determinants. Let us explore these and see what we find.

The Difference in Bone Structure

It might not feel like it, but our teeth are encased in bone, and the intensity of pain that you experience will be different for each tooth simply due to the natural variation in the bone that holds each set. The bone that holds your lower set is far stronger and denser. On the other hand, the bone that holds the upper set is not as strong or dense. It is no surprise that the extraction of your upper wisdom tooth is not as painful.

Alveolar Osteitis

Alveolar Osteitis or dry socket is a commonly occurring condition after a tooth extraction and it is extremely painful. The occurrence of the condition is 10 times rarer in cases of upper wisdom tooth extraction in Edmonton. There is a 20% chance of you suffering from the condition following the extraction of your lower wisdom tooth. It is hard to argue with statistics, the extraction of your upper wisdom tooth is indeed less likely to be painful.

The Number of Injections

Wisdom tooth extraction is obviously a painful operation; hence there is an established practice of using anesthesia in order to numb the region. Your upper wisdom teeth require two injections as a standard practice and these are generally very shallow. On the other hand, lower wisdom tooth extraction requires multiple (5-7) injections, and these injections are significantly deeper ones. Two of these injections penetrate well into your muscle, thus resulting in increased pain post-extraction.

Gravity

Just like humans, the food particles you consume in the period after the upper wisdom tooth extraction must also obey the laws of gravity. The food particles are naturally going to accumulate in the socket left behind by your extracted lower wisdom tooth. This is not applicable for upper wisdom teeth where there is very limited debris that is likely to accumulate. Post-extraction pain, therefore, is also much lesser for upper wisdom teeth removed.

There it is, take a sigh of relief if you need an upper wisdom tooth extraction; it’s not as painful as you imagine it is. Our dental facility in Edmonton offers upper wisdom tooth extraction among other general dentistry procedures for the all-round protection of your oral health.

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Dentist Edmonton