My Experience

I had a root canal tooth that was never restored, i.e., I never had the recommended crown put on after the root canal. Over time, the tooth started to break down until one day it broke off completely. The root of the tooth was still there and needed to be extracted.

I was greeted when I walked into the dentist’s office and told it would be just a few minutes. That’s usually never the case when I’m visiting any doctor’s office, but in this case, to my surprise, I was brought into the exam room within minutes.

The doctor came in almost immediately and said hi. He then walked me through the procedure. He then numbed the area with anesthetic and used a laser to loosen the tooth from the surrounding gum tissue. Then the forceps came out. He wiggled the tooth, or what was left of it, and it came out immediately. They gave me some gauze to bite on for about 20 minutes and some extra to take home with me. I was told not to smoke or spit or drink through a straw for the first 24 hours so that the blood clot stayed in place to heal properly.

I went home and felt very little discomfort. The anesthesia started to wear off and I felt a little bit of soreness but I popped two Advil and the pain went away. Now I’m patiently waiting to heal so I can get an implant.