Swollen Lips following Extractions

Although we don’t advise patients to get teeth extracted needlessly, the process is usually a simple one. Southern Cross Dental in Colorado Springs serves patients of all ages, and often performs dental extractions on children in preparation for orthodontic work or to prevent overcrowding from wisdom teeth. When we do this, we do our best to provide clear instructions and arrange follow-ups. However, there are some issues that are known to pop up after extractions, including swollen lips.

 

When we extract teeth from the lower jaw, we usually use local anesthetic to numb the alveolar nerve. This nerve also supplies feeling to the chin and lower lip, and for many children, a numb lower lip is a strange new sensation. Unfortunately, they often experimentally bite on their lower lips, and being numbed, can’t tell when they’re biting too hard. This could result in a lesion and the lip swelling to many times its usual size.

 

Typically, this kind of swelling isn’t dangerous. If the lesion remains white and doesn’t produce any odor, and the patient doesn’t have a fever, it is probably not infected and doesn’t need to be drained. It will likely recede to normal after a few weeks, and patients can take over-the-counter painkillers and apply cold packs to their faces for the first forty-eight hours after the extraction. (They can switch to hot packs after that.) Hopefully, simply informing children of the risk of a swollen lip is enough to prevent them from biting, and they’ll be on a soft foods diet immediately after the extraction that will prevent them from biting their lips accidentally. If a swollen lip does show signs of infection, it will need to be cared for professionally.

 

Drs. Navid and Faranak Rahimpour operate Southern Cross Dental at 1855 S Nevada Ave, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80905. To schedule an appointment, call 719-471-1717 or visit Southern Cross Dental.

Pericoronitis

If you have a child nearing their teenage years, you may have heard us discussing the risk of impacted wisdom teeth. At Southern Cross Dental in Colorado Springs, our goal is to preserve a patient’s teeth, but the wisdom teeth often encounter problems that require us to remove them. One of the most common problems when they are unable to erupt completely is pericoronitis, so we wanted our patients to better understand it.

An impacted tooth is one which is partly or entirely unable to push through the gum line. As the largest teeth and the last to erupt, the wisdom teeth frequently are impacted, with a portion of them sticking through the gum and most of them still inside it. The part of a dental crown that breaks through the gum line may still be covered by a flap of gingival tissue called an operculum. Food debris and bacteria can easily get stuck in between the operculum and the crown, leading to recurring infections. “Pericoronitis” is the phrase we use to describe inflammation around a dental crown.

It is difficult for a person to clean an impacted tooth. They should still brush and floss regularly and may also want to try swishing salt water in their mouth, but they will probably need our professional help to remove build-up. We may have to cut away the operculum, and because impacted wisdom teeth often cause misalignments and jaw pain in addition to pericoronitis, we will often extract them.

Drs. Navid and Faranak Rahimpour operate Southern Cross Dental at 1855 S Nevada Ave, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80905-2516. To schedule an appointment, call 719-471-1717 or visit Southern Cross Dental and fill out a contact sheet.

 

Post-Extraction Swelling

We’re trusted tooth extractors at Southern Cross Dental in Colorado Springs. As an office that serves people of all ages, we’ve assisted lots of teenagers with wisdom tooth removal, ensuring they will have hygienic, healthily aligned bites. Although we strive to make our patients as comfortable as possible, some swelling after this procedure is normal. We want our patients to understand why so they’ll be more at ease and better able to recognize if something does go wrong.

When a tooth is extracted, the jaw bone will be briefly exposed before the blood clots and seals the socket. The immune system recognizes this as a wound and triggers inflammation. This process prevents harmful bacteria that may have entered the socket from spreading to the rest of the body and concentrates white blood cells where they’re needed. Generally, inflammation is proportionate to the complexity of an extraction, so extractions done with incisions can be expected to cause more swelling.

In the initial aftermath of an extraction, we advise patients to limit swelling by applying cold packs. They should follow the fifteen-on-fifteen-off rule: never put an ice pack on the skin for more than fifteen minutes and always allow fifteen minutes to pass between applications. Swelling should peak within forty-eight, after which the patient can apply the same procedure with hot packs. If swelling is still increasing after three days, the patient should call us for assistance. Red discoloration is a normal part of inflammation, but if the tissue near the surgical site turns black or white, the patient should seek emergency care. In most cases, swelling can be controlled through conventional means and over-the-counter pain medication is sufficient.

Drs. Navid and Faranak Rahimpour operate Southern Cross Dental at 1855 S Nevada Ave, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80905-2516. To schedule an appointment, call 719-471-1717 or visit Southern Cross Family Dentistry and fill out a contact sheet.

 

Osteonecrosis of the Jaw

We make dental extractions quick and easy at Southern Cross Dental in Colorado Springs. Usually, a non-surgical extraction can be done in just a few seconds and the empty socket will be healed within days. However, there is a potential complication which can arise in people on certain medications, which is why we want our patients to understand what osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) is.

Osteonecrosis is when bone tissue dies. This can occur if bone is exposed to air, which the jawbone is immediately after a tooth is removed, but this situation is usually not dangerous unless the patient is on bisphosphonate medication. Bisphosphonates are used to prevent bone resorption in people with osteoporosis or who are receiving chemotherapy. Almost all known cases of ONJ occurred in chemotherapy patients receiving bisphosphonates through an IV drip.

ONJ is an example of why it is so important for patients to disclose their entire medical and medication history, even for routine procedures. If it occurs, dead bone can be shaved off and treated with anti-bacterial spray, but it is best to avoid scheduling extractions for current chemotherapy patients. If a patient is expected to start chemotherapy, they should discuss with their oncologist whether they have time for dental procedures.

Drs. Navid and Faranak Rahimpour operate Southern Cross Dental at 1855 S Nevada Ave, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80905-2516. To schedule an appointment, call 719-471-1717 or visit Southern Cross Family Dentistry and fill out a contact sheet.

 

Sectioning Teeth during Extractions

Sometimes, tooth extractions are necessary for preserving the health of the rest of the mouth. At Southern Cross Dental in Colorado Springs, we’re committed to making the extraction process as easy on the patient as possible, which is why we sometimes cut teeth into sections while removing them.

Molars have to be anchored firmly in the mouth in order to withstand the forces people put on them while chewing. The lower molars have two roots; the upper ones have three. They are fastened with strong ligaments and cannot always be removed with the rocking motions used while pulling or elevating other teeth. Attempts to move them through brute force could hurt the patient or cause the molar to break apart too early. This is especially likely to happen with the wisdom teeth, which are the largest, most firmly anchored, and most likely to be caught under the gum line and not have a large enough opening to be pulled through.

Sectioning occurs after the patient has been numbed. A steady stream of water keeps the mouth cool while the dentist cuts the tooth into sections using a drill. The individual sections do not require as much force to move and can be pulled through smaller openings in the gum pockets.

Drs. Navid and Faranak Rahimpour operate Southern Cross Dental at 1855 S Nevada Ave, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80905-2516. To schedule an appointment, call 719-471-1717 or visit Southern Cross Family Dentistry and fill out a contact sheet.

 

Dry Sockets

We regularly carry out extractions at Southern Cross Dental and our patients always leave with clear post-operation instructions. Nevertheless, we are on the lookout for complications and want our patients to know how to recognize signs of a dry socket.

When a tooth is removed, a hole leading down to the jawbone will be left open. It is necessary for the patient to develop a blood clot to seal this off until it naturally closes, or else the socket will painfully dry out, leaving the patient vulnerable to infection. Therefore, we will need to know all the medications the patient is on before the extraction in order to determine if any of them will interfere with clot formation. Patients will also have to abstain from sipping through straws or otherwise creating suction in their mouths which could dislodge the clot once it’s been formed.

Dry sockets are most likely after difficult extractions that required incisions and sutures. They usually develop within two days of the extraction. Patients who are in severe pain should request an emergency appointment. We will clean the socket and provide medicated wound dressing in place of the clot. We will monitor the patient’s recovery much more closely after that and provide prescriptions if painkillers or antibiotics are necessary.

Drs. Navid and Faranak Rahimpour operate Southern Cross Dental at 1855 S Nevada Ave, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80905-2516. To schedule an appointment, call 719-471-1717 or visit SouthernCrossFamilyDentistry.com and fill out a contact sheet.