Is Tooth Extraction Painful?
What is Post Extraction Instructions?

Reasons for Pulling Teeth
Although permanent teeth were meant to last a lifetime, there are a number of reasons why tooth extraction may be needed. A very common reason involves a tooth that is too badly damaged, from trauma or decay, to be repaired.

Other reasons include:
A crowded mouth. Sometimes dentists pull teeth to prepare the mouth for orthodontia. The goal of orthodontia is to properly align the teeth, which may not be possible if your teeth are too big for your mouth. Likewise, if a tooth cannot break through the gum (erupt) because there is not room in the mouth for it, our dentist may recommend pulling it.

Infection. If tooth decay or damage extends to the pulp — the center of the tooth containing nerves and blood vessels — bacteria in the mouth can enter the pulp, leading to infection. Often this can be corrected with root canal therapy (RCT), but if the infection is so severe that antibiotics or RCT do not cure it, extraction may be needed to prevent the spread of infection.

Risk of infection. If your immune system is compromised (for example, if you are receiving chemotherapy or are having an organ transplant), even the risk of infection in a particular tooth may be reason enough to pull the tooth.

Periodontal (Gum) Disease . If periodontal disease — an infection of the tissues and bones that surround and support the teeth — have caused loosening of the teeth, it may be necessary to the pull the tooth or teeth.

What to Expect With Tooth Extraction
Dentists and oral surgeons perform tooth extractions. Before pulling the tooth, we will give you an injection of a local anesthetic to numb the area where the tooth will be removed. If you are having more than one tooth pulled or if a tooth is impacted, our dentist may use a strong general anesthetic. This will prevent pain throughout your body and make you sleep through the procedure.
If the tooth is impacted, the dentist will cut away gum and bone tissue that cover the tooth and then, using forceps, grasp the tooth and gently rock it back and forth to loosen it from the jaw bone and ligaments that hold it in place. Sometimes, a hard-to-pull tooth must be removed in pieces.Once the tooth has been pulled, a blood clot usually forms in the socket. The dentist will pack a gauze pad into the socket and have you bite down on it to help stop the bleeding. Sometimes the dentist will place a few stitches — usually self-dissolving — to close the gum edges over the extraction site.

After You’ve Had a Tooth Pulled
Following an extraction, we will send you home to recover. Recovery typically takes a few days. The following can help minimize discomfort, reduce the risk of infection, and speed recovery.
* Take painkillers as prescribed.
* Bite firmly but gently on the gauze pad placed by your dentist to reduce bleeding and allow a clot to form in the tooth socket. Change gauze pads before they become soaked with blood. Otherwise, leave the pad in place for three to four hours after the extraction.
* Apply an ice bag to the affected area immediately after the procedure to keep down swelling. Apply ice for 10 minutes at a time.
* Relax for at least 24 hours after the extraction. Limit activity for the next day or two.
* Avoid rinsing or spitting forcefully for 24 hours after the extraction to avoid dislodging the clot that forms in the socket.
* After 24 hours, rinse with your mouth with a solution made of 1/2 teaspoon salt and 8 ounces of warm water.
* Do not drink from a straw for the first 24 hours.
* Do not smoke, which can inhibit healing.
* Eat soft foods, such as soup, pudding, yogurt, or applesauce the day after the extraction. Gradually add solid foods to your diet as the extraction site heals.
* When lying down, prop your head with pillows. Lying flat may prolong bleeding.
* Continue to brush and floss your teeth, and brush your tongue, but be sure to avoid the extraction site. Doing so will help prevent infection.

Practicing family dentistry has always been one of our greatest philosophy at Vistasol Dental Clinic in Montebello, where everyone are treated like a Family.
Family dental health plays a very important role in total personal hygiene. Oral and dental problems can lead to a lot of health problems. These problems are quite costly to cure, but can be cured, or completely prevented, with less hassle at an early stage through high-quality family dentistry. Having unhealthy teeth has a lot of disadvantages, not just on personal hygiene, but on personality and confidence as well. It can also greatly affect the hygiene of all family members and even change their lifestyle. Several bacterial problems caused by unhealthy teeth can affect the entire body and immune system, which in turn can spread through the family and affect other family members.

Kids learn about taking care of their teeth at home, and as they grow up, they take the responsibility of it. They also feel more comfortable if they go to the same dental clinic they parents go to. When all family members learn about dental and oral hygiene together, they can enforce it on each other and achieve better results, and therefore better family health. Family dental care is a necessity and should be consistently pursued through best quality family dentistry.

At Vistasol Dental clinic we pay close attention to our patients situations and understand the importance of treating and educating all family members together at one place. Our environment is kids friendly and we make sure they are comfortable and fear-free at our clinic. Furthermore, all the family’s dental needs are met at Vistasol Dental. Dr. Noushin Adhami performs in general dentistry, cosmetic dentistry, restorative dentistry and pediatric dentistry and all the staff is well-educated and experienced.

To make an appointment either for your child or self please call at 323 346-0208

Dr. Noushin Adhami D.D.S
www.VistasolDental.com
General Dentist at Vistasol Dental Clinic in Montebello

The media is full of flashy advertisements about cosmetic dental treatments that can transform your smile and change your life. Although we hear more about these cosmetic dental treatments, more patients seek dental care for general dental issues than for any other type of dental problem. General dental treatments are procedures designed to improve or restore your oral health. This type of dentistry includes a variety of dental procedures.

Some general dental procedures are preventative. These treatments include fluoride treatments, protective sealants to help prevent tooth decay, as well as preventative programs designed to improve a patient’s oral health, reducing their chances of developing a cavity or periodontal disease.

Many general dental procedures involve restorative measures, meaning that they are designed to correct an existing oral health problem. These treatments include, but are not limited to, filling cavities, performing root canal therapy, treating periodontal disease, placing crowns to strengthen damaged teeth, placing inlays and onlays to restore areas of damaged or missing tooth on the chewing surface, Extraction of wisdom teeth , dental bonding and more.

General dental treatments can also be diagnostic. These procedures are designed to identify oral health issues before they develop into more serious complications. Diagnostic treatments include x-ray imaging to search for signs of tooth decay, impacted teeth, and other oral health problems. More advanced forms of imaging such as 3D images of the patient’s mouth or Panoramic dental X-Ray can also be used to help detect any abnormalities.

Routine examinations and cleanings are both diagnostic and preventative in nature, and they are the most frequent procedures performed by our general dentists at Vistasol Dental. Examinations identify signs of oral health problems, including cavities, signs of periodontal disease, signs of infection, and more. If our dentist locates an oral health issue, a follow up appointment will be scheduled to treat the compromised tooth.

Most patients should schedule a routine examination and cleaning every six months. Some patients, such as patients with ongoing oral health problems or patients with diabetes, may need more frequent appointments to monitor their oral health. If you have not had a general examination within the past six months, be sure to call your general dentist at Vistasol Dental Clinic at (323) 346-0208 to schedule an appointment.

When anthropologists of the future find our fossilized teeth, what will they be able to conclude about our lives?
Debbie Guatelli-Steinberg has an idea. She is a professor of anthropology at The Ohio State University who studies fossilized teeth to answer questions about the life history, growth, and diet of primates and our human ancestors, as well as the relationships between different species.
In a new book, What Teeth Reveal About Human Evolution (Cambridge University Press, 2016), she gives a broad overview of what scientists have learned about our ancestors from studying fossilized teeth.
As for the teeth of humans living today — well, it is a good thing we have modern dentistry.
“We have teeth that were adapted for eating a very different diet than the one we eat today, at least in Western societies,” Guatelli-Steinberg said.
In the book, she noted that 99 percent of humans’ evolutionary history was spent eating foods that were hunted or gathered. Our current diets of soft, processed and sugary foods are nothing like the diets for which our teeth are adapted.
“Problems like cavities and plaque buildup have been magnified tremendously in humans today,” she said. “Natural selection has not prepared us well for the kinds of food we eat today.”
In addition to having much higher rates of cavities and plaque, modern humans are much more likely to have misaligned teeth that require orthodontic treatment or surgery.
“Soft diets do not stimulate jaw growth, and teeth, especially our third molars (wisdom teeth), become impacted,” she said.
In fact, third molar impaction became 10 times more common after the Industrial Revolution than it was previously.
Researchers like Guatelli-Steinberg learn a lot about early humans and our ancestors through an examination of teeth.
One reason that teeth provide so much information is simply that they are available. Teeth are the most preserved skeletal remains found in fossils. They are small and very mineralized, making them resistant to decomposition and able to maintain their original qualities, she said. Teeth also contain a record of a lot of aspects of their own development, including their chemistry and pathology.
“Teeth give us insights into a variety of aspects of evolution,” she said.
For example, researchers study the structure of teeth — like bumps and grooves — to see how species are related to one another.
Also, since the scale of dental development is related to overall development in most animals, researchers can use teeth to determine how long it took individuals of different species to grow to adulthood.
On the other end of life, researchers can study the amount of wear on fossilized teeth to get a very rough estimate of how old an adult was when he or she died.
And, of course, there is much to learn about diets.
Microscopic wear on the chewing surfaces of teeth can suggest what kind of food an individual ate.
“Different kinds of food can require different ways of bringing the teeth together. As that happens, the food will mark the teeth in different ways, depending on their properties,” she said.
The chemical composition of the teeth themselves is revealing. Scientists can identify the stable isotopes and trace elements in fossilized teeth to determine an individual’s diet.
Much of Guatelli-Steinberg’s own research has focused on using patterns of tooth growth to assess what life was like for the individuals under study.
“Tooth growth is disrupted in periods of severe physical stress, such as illness or starvation, so teeth can be a window to challenges that our ancestors faced,” she said.
In a 2004 study, Guatelli-Steinberg and colleagues used a scanning electron microscope to compare fossilized teeth of Neanderthals with those of modern Inuits, or Eskimos. The researchers were looking for tiny defects — horizontal lines and grooves in tooth enamel — that suggest the individuals were experiencing stress.
The results showed that Neanderthals did not have lives that were dramatically more difficult than those of the modern Eskimos — a finding that challenged traditional thinking at the time.
More recently, Guatelli-Steinberg has used a relatively new method of studying fossilized teeth to examine growth increments. The technique pioneered by anthropologist Tanya Smith, called X-ray synchrotron microtomography, uses a specialized imaging machine to see inside teeth without having to cut them up.
This allows researchers to create virtual sections of fossil teeth to see periods of growth, or when growth was interrupted, in increments as short as just a few days, she said.
Regardless of what new techniques are developed to study teeth, Guatelli-Steinberg said she expects future anthropologists will “likely have a field day” studying modern human teeth.
“In various cultures today, we have people who notch teeth, inlay them with jewels or gold, lengthen them, file them down and remove them altogether,” she said.
“One can only imagine what anthropologists will make of all the things we do to our teeth today.”