Extractions & Preservation

Teeth Extractions, Bone Grafts, & Wisdom Tooth Removal

While we focus on helping you maintain your teeth for a lifetime, sometimes certain teeth need to be removed. Wisdom teeth, extra teeth, or very crowded teeth present situations that may mean treatment involving removal. In some cases, severely decayed or cracked teeth, or those missing large amounts of supporting bone leave extraction as the only viable option.

We always consider your comfort regardless of the type of care you’re receiving. We’ll discuss your unique situation specifically to determine the best way to help you receive the treatment you need. Few patients look forward to any minor surgical procedure, but today’s methods provide the safest, least invasive care possible.

Tooth Extractions

Despite your best efforts, teeth sometimes need to be removed to protect your health. When we have discussed all other possibilities and you have decided on extraction, we will take every step to help you. Your well-being always takes priority in any treatment decision.

Teeth present varied levels of removal difficulty, but our team takes pride in helping every patient get numb with modern anesthetics to start every procedure. Once anesthesia settles in, careful steps are taken with instruments designed to elevate your tooth out of place. We give you specific instructions help you care for the area after your procedure, with prescriptions for any medications needed during the healing period.

While we consider the short-term management of your care, we should also discuss your long-term plans for replacing missing teeth. Leaving a space is always an option, but spaces in your smile can create appearance and functional challenges that are important to consider. Teeth slowly shift or migrate into open spaces, and minimizing the instability of an unbalanced bite can save a number of complications later in life.

Although our primary goal is to help your teeth stay healthy and functional, we can guide you through an extraction when needed. Fortunately, your mouth can be restored back to health after tooth removal. Since teeth help nourish our bodies and support our confidence, we will help you find a game plan that fits your short and long-term goals. We offer several options to help get your best smile back!

Bone Grafting
We can only imagine what our bodies would look like without bones. This scaffolding provides support, form and protection to everything around it. The bone around your teeth, alveolar bone, serves to hold the teeth firmly in place. The particular height, shape, and density of this specialized bone can be compromised by gum disease, tooth removal, or other forms of trauma.

If bone shrinks away around your teeth, it never grows back. In some cases, bone can be encouraged to fill in with grafting materials placed by Dr. Clements and Dr. Massey. Every situation offers a different scenario, but more options than ever exist to promote bone repair in the jaw. For example, when a tooth needs removal a large hole then exists in the bone. While it will fill in naturally, the site tends to shrink, drawing bone away from the area. Grafting materials can be placed simply at the time of tooth removal to help preserve the bone. Grafts prove especially beneficial if you’d like to consider an implant-supported replacement in the future.

Even previously collapsed areas can often benefit from specialized grafting material, bolstering nearly any part of the jaw bone. It’s important to note: bone destroyed by gum disease often leaves significant defects around teeth. While some of these areas are grafting candidates, many of them experience irreversible bone loss and compromised support of the teeth. Controlling gum disease with our dental team will serve your health much better than corrective surgical grafts that might be needed otherwise.

Wisdom Teeth Removal

Third molars, or commonly known as “wisdom teeth,” usually erupt between the ages of 17 and 21. When your wisdom teeth are well-positioned and healthy, they are very important. However, they are more prone to causing problems when they break through the gum tissue, since there is usually little room available for them. But if they are too big for your jaw size, if they emerge from the jaw crooked or if they are impacted and don not come down through the gum, there can be serious problems that are caused, ranging from the disruption of nearby teeth to the formation of cysts under the gum. Therefore, they may become impacted or erupt sideways which can cause infection, pain and swelling. If you are facing any of these conditions, our dentists may recommend wisdom teeth removal surgery.Wisdom teeth extraction can be complicated if the teeth haven’t erupted through the gumline. However, it is a common oral surgery.

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710 N Brittain St # C
Shelbyville, TN 37160

Monday – Thursday
8:00am – 5:00pm

(931) 685-9700