Recovery After A Tooth Extraction: How Long Does The Socket Take To Heal

Why Is a Tooth Extraction Necessary?

Our dentist’s primary goal is to help you maintain a healthy smile. Also, our dentist will try by all means to save your natural teeth, but when it jeopardizes your oral health, then a tooth extraction would be inevitable. Here are some reasons why extractions are deemed necessary:

• To remove badly damaged teeth
• To remove impacted teeth
• To extract teeth that are loose because of gum disease
• To prepare for orthodontic treatment, especially if you have crowded teeth
• To get rid of an infection that cannot be treated using root canal treatment

After you have undergone an extraction, some factors will determine how long your socket will take to heal, including the type of extraction and your tooth’s size.

Factors Determining Recovery Time

Regardless of the type of tooth being extracted, two types of extractions will determine the recovery time, and they are:

• Simple Extractions

In a nutshell, simple extractions are performed in visible teeth, or teeth can be seen above the gumline. In most cases, these teeth will be extracted due to severe decay, infection, or crowding.

Our dentist will use local anesthesia to numb the region close to the infected tooth. You’ll be awake during the procedure.

If your tooth is small and has a single root, then the socket left behind will seal relatively fast, usually around seven days. You can expect complete healing to take place roughly two weeks after the extraction.

However, if a large tooth has several roots, you can expect the socket to seal after at least three weeks. Complete healing will take several months and is depended on your aftercare practices and how fast your body heals. You might feel that there is an indentation even if the hole is sealed.

• Surgical Extraction

A surgical extraction is more extensive than a simple extraction. A surgical extraction is typically performed when your teeth are not visible above the gum line. It is done to remove impacted wisdom and canine teeth or fragments of a tooth that broke off during a simple extraction. Our dentist will use anesthesia to ensure that the process will be painless.

Due to the intensity of the procedure, your socket will take longer to heal than when you undergo a simple tooth extraction. This is because bone and tissue are cut underneath your gum line.

Therefore, you can expect the socket to seal approximately six weeks after the extraction. However, it will take several more months for the indentation to fill in and for the socket to heal completely.

The Size of the Tooth Matters

A small tooth with a single root will be easier to extract, and the socket will seal very quickly. In most cases, within a week. By the second week, you could be eating more comfortably without worrying if food will enter the hole. On the other hand, a larger tooth with multiple roots will need more time before the hole seals.

When it comes to an impacted wisdom tooth, the healing time will be relatively longer than the rest. This is because, with wisdom teeth, it is not just the gum tissue that is healing but the jawbone as well. This might take several months before you heal completely.

You can contact us at Precision Dentistry if you need to undergo tooth extractions in Delta.