Expert: Benjamin Schwartz, DDS FAGD - 11/18/2008

Question
Dear Dr,
My name is Elise and i have a dentist appointment tomorrow morning. I've always been scared of the dentist but its gotten to a point where now i have to go. I had a filling put in many years back and last year the filling had fallen out and broke my tooth. Because of many complications with my wisdom teeth, its been put off for too long and was going to need a root canal. I went to the dentist a couple days ago and they said theres no way to save the tooth because its so deep and so forth, so they will have to extract it. My biggest worry is that because it is damaged and so deep, will that make it more painful when getting the tooth removed? or will it be the same as removing any other tooth. I'm a chicken of needles, and i'm not so much worried about the after pain as much as the pain i will be in when they do the extraction. Can you help me with my fear??? heh
thanks a lot -Elise

Answer
Hi Elise,

To make you feel better - sometimes, if a tooth has a large infection around it, the extraction is much easier than a regular extraction. Since the bone is not holding on as tight, it will usually come out with less force.

However, as with anything, there are always some people that go against this rule. Hopefully, you are not one of them.. ;)

Good luck, and please let me know if you need anything else.