Pulling Out Teeth – Don’t Try This At Home!
Extracting teeth requires professional help for various reasons.
Although only a very small number of people try to remove their own teeth at home, perhaps due to being in pain, the fact is that some still do. Some of this is possibly due to the legacy of the Covid restrictions that caused long waits for some people. Out of desperation perhaps, some people chose to risk taking teeth out by themselves.
For reasons that you will see in today’s blog, you should never do this, instead you should seek help from one of our Acton dentists to professionally remove it. Attempting to do this yourself could leave you in serious pain, but could also lead to other problems too. Let us look then at some of the issues surrounding DIY tooth extractions.
Pulling children’s teeth out
One time when home tooth extractions seem to happen more than others, and have done for many years, is when a child’s first teeth become loose. As we all know, first teeth are temporary and will be replaced by their adult teeth. This can sometimes lead to a fairly relaxed attitude to initial teeth. While they are temporary though, they should still be treated with care.
When the child’s tooth becomes loose and wobbly and feels likely to come out fairly soon, it is best, as far as possible, to let nature take its course. You should never ‘force’ a tooth from its socket though and that includes both older methods like tying a piece of string around the tooth, and the other end to a door handle and slamming it shut. Or indeed more ‘modern’ methods using string and drones etc, sometimes done so that it can be posted on social media. Please don’t do this!
Not only can these methods above cause pain and distress for the child, but there is a real risk of damage to both the gum and the tooth socket. If the socket becomes damaged, this could affect the way that the adult tooth erupts and may result in it doing so crookedly. More significant damage could even threaten the stability of the adult tooth.
It is always best to consult your dentist before taking any action at home. We are always happy to offer help and advice, and, where necessary, arrange an appointment for the loose tooth to be removed by one of the dentists at the Acton Vale Dental Centre.
The perils of adult “self” extractions
One of the most common reasons for pulling out a tooth on your own is when you are in severe pain. This more commonly happened during lockdown restrictions but still occasionally still happens today. There are many risks to attempting to do this yourself as we will shortly see, and not only the risk of even more pain!
If you do find yourself in significant pain with toothache, we do understand how distressing that this can be. Please don’t attempt to relieve this yourself by self extracting the tooth, but give us a call straight away. We are open six days a week and also offer walk-in emergency dentist appointments on the same day where space allows. You don’t even have to currently be an existing patient of ours!
Unfortunately, we are not able to offer these appointments on the NHS and there is a fee for this, plus any additional treatment charge. If this might be a problem for you, please talk to us about this when you call or attend on the day so that we can discuss the option of one of the dental payment plans that we have in place to enable people to spread the cost of any treatment they might receive.
If you are currently a patient with us, we do also offer general emergency appointments, but, while we will arrange these as promptly as we possibly can, these may not be on the same day.
Let us look now then, at a few of the problems that might occur if you risk removing a tooth yourself.
Incomplete extractions
Removing a tooth, and especially an adult tooth, requires skill and the right equipment; something that is lacking in home extractions. Even if you are fortunate enough to pull the tooth out without too much pain or post removal bleeding, there is a significant chance that not all of the tooth will have been removed. If you have had a tooth removed at our Acton dental practice, you will notice that the socket is checked for any remnants of the tooth before the treatment ends. This is because even a small part of the tooth, left in the socket could lead to infections from any bacteria on the tooth. This could be painful and only a visit to a dentist would rectify this. It may also cause infections and inflammation of the gums as well.
There is always a risk that a tooth will not come out in one piece at all, but can break into a number of pieces. In some instances, a dentist will deliberately divide the tooth into sections for removal where appropriate, but this is different to if the tooth breaks during a home removal and will most likely make any further removal both more complicated and probably more painful too.
Bone damage
Especially where someone has attempted to remove a tooth quite ‘violently’, there is also a real risk of damage to the bone that held the tooth in place. Again, this could cause significant pain, but this is not the only issue. If the bone breaks around the tooth, this may rule out the option of having the tooth replaced by a dental implant if this was something you were considering. There is still a chance that this could be restored prior to an implant placement, using a bone graft, but this may depend on the severity of any damage caused.
Please remember that your teeth can cause a lot of pain if not treated with care. They are not a simple block of porcelain but are a complex part of the body which includes tiny blood vessels, and, as anyone who has had a bad toothache will know, nerves.
If you, or your child, needs to have a tooth taken out, you should always have this done by a dentist. Whether you feel that this is a routine removal (such as with a child’s wobbly teeth) or you are in pain with a severe toothache, we are here to help you. For advice, or to book an appointment with us, please call the Acton Vale Dental Centre on 020 8749 3267.