WISDOM TOOTH REMOVAL In Los Angeles

Everyone suffers from tooth pain in their lifetime, but understanding the cause and treatment options for resolving the pain is crucial. It is important to schedule a consultation with your periodontist in Los Angeles to understand the source of your pain, so that you can pursue the best course of action for your needs. Your oral health is not just limited to your mouth. Complications with your oral structures, such as the tooth, gums, and underlying bone, and poor oral hygiene not only affect your oral health, but can negatively impact your overall health. Issues like oral infections and untreated periodontal disease have been linked to heart disease, diabetes, and other diseases, so it is important to maintain proper oral hygiene, and consult with your Los Angeles periodontist for a proper diagnosis if you experience pain and discomfort in you mouth when eating, speaking, chewing and brushing your teeth. 

The third set of molars, wisdom teeth, often emerge in the late teens or early 20s and can cause a great deal of pain and discomfort depending on the size of the patient’s mouth and position of the teeth. Impacted or partially erupted wisdom teeth can result in a number of problems including pain and trauma to nearby teeth and gums.

When the teeth emerge properly and are aligned with other teeth, and the surrounding gum tissue is healthy, wisdom teeth can be left in place. Unfortunately, in most cases, wisdom tooth extraction is necessary when the teeth are restricted from suitably emerging within the mouth. Wisdom teeth can erupt in a number of ways including growing in sideways, only partially protruding from the gum, and in some cases, remaining below the gum and bone, causing pain and pressure in the mouth.

Although there are a number of reasons why patients experience pain, the most common symptoms associated with wisdom teeth removal are continued wisdom tooth pain, stiffness of the jaw, sensitive gums in the area where wisdom teeth are found, repeated tooth infections, tooth decay and damage, or shifting and or/crowding of the teeth. When wisdom teeth grow in, they can fully emerge, causing an overcrowding of the teeth, partially erupt potentially causing infection, or grow in sideways below the gums, also known as impacted wisdom teeth, causing the teeth to shift and misalign. For some patients, the teeth may not cause any harm or complications and in some cases can be left untouched. For other patients, wisdom teeth emerging can be a painful process that can cause serious serious complications. If you believe you need your wisdom teeth removed contact us to schedule a visit to learn if wisdom teeth removal is necessary for you.

During the procedure, the doctor will administer IV sedation therapy and painkilling medication to ensure you are completely relaxed and experience no discomfort. Although you will be in a twilight sleep during IV sedation, you will be completely comfortable and most likely will not recall the surgery.

Depending on the state of your wisdom teeth (partially erupted, unerupted or impacted), Dr. Aalam or Dr. Krivitsky will perform either a simple or surgical extraction. During a simple extraction, the doctor will remove the entire tooth in one piece. For more complex surgical extractions, the doctor will separate the tooth into several pieces for easier removal.

As the only two board-certified periodontists in Brentwood and professors at the USC School of Dentistry, Dr. Aalam and Dr. Krivitsky specialize in tooth removal, and strive to ensure each patient is comfortable with the process and confident with their results.

Although wisdom tooth extraction is generally regarded as a safe procedure, the success of your surgery depends, in large part, on the experience and qualifications of your oral surgeon. The outcome is affected by the quality of the periodontist’s training as well as his or her use of proper surgical techniques. In order to ensure a smooth recovery, Dr. Aalam and Dr. Krivitsky utilize only the most cutting-edge treatments and technologies available to minimize side effects and discomfort and improve oral health and appearance.

At the CENTER for Advanced Periodontal and Implant Therapy, we utilize advanced technology and innovative methods to ensure your wisdom teeth removal process is minimally invasive, and pain free, and your recovery is quick and comfortable. In many wisdom tooth removal cases, we utilize Platelet Rich Fibrin, also known as PRF to accelerate healing. Platelet Rich Fibrin is made from a sample of the patient’s own blood that is withdrawn, spun in a centrifuge and then prepared to insert into the surgical site. First, one of our trained and certified in-house phlebotomists will draw several blood samples from the patient, which are spun in a centrifuge to create the PRF. Having a certified phlebotomist in our office ensures that the blood samples are safely withdrawn and correctly processed, preventing any cross contamination from occurring. Once enough blood has been withdrawn, depending on the number of wisdom teeth removed and the amount of PRF needed, the sample tubes are placed into the centrifuge and spun. The centrifuge separates the blood into white blood cells, red blood cells and plasma. The red blood cells are separated from the rest of the matrix, and what remains is a clot like substance that is composed of white blood cells, fibrins and platelets, which are rich in regenerative growth factors. The substance is prepared, and subsequently inserted into the socket where the wisdom tooth was removed after removal. PRF has been used in various surgeries and sports medicine because of its powerful healing abilities. PRF can effectively restore lost gum tissue, speed up the body’s natural healing process, reduces the risk of infection⁣, and achieves faster results.

Following a wisdom tooth extraction, it is important for patients to take a few simple precautions to help prevent potential complications during the recovery period. For example, patients are advised to not smoke cigarettes at least one day after a tooth extraction, to consume only soft foods for a few days, to avoid drinking from a straw and drinking carbonated drinks. A periodontist will prescribe pain medication to help you manage the discomfort felt after the surgery, and in some cases an oral rinse to ensure the surgical site is kept clean and heals properly.

At the CENTER for Advanced Periodontal & Implant Therapy, Dr. Aalam and Dr. Krivitsky strive to ensure each patient is comfortable throughout their treatment process and confident with their results. With a commitment to excellence in care, we utilize cutting-edge treatment methods with advanced technology to offer our patients the best in periodontal care in Los Angeles.