An extraction means to have a tooth removed, usually due to disease/infections, trauma or crowding. If an infection is present, the dentist will likely recommend the patient take a week of an antibiotic to reduce the amount of infection present in an area. This recommendation is due to an infection not allowing the patient’s infected tooth to “numb”, which causes discomfort during the removal of the tooth. In some cases, an extraction can become surgical where the dentist would make an incision on a section of the gums and trim away the bone tissue to have better access to the tooth. Examples where an extraction might become surgical are broken teeth, fragile or cracked teeth, teeth with long and/or curved roots, or impacted teeth.
