Simple and surgical extractions
Taking a tooth out is the easy part. Keeping the bone that held it is what decides your options afterwards.
What is involved
Simple extractions are for teeth that are visible and accessible. Surgical extractions are for impacted teeth and broken roots, where the tooth has to be reached before it can be removed.
Either way the technique is atraumatic — the aim is to remove the tooth while preserving the surrounding bone and tissue rather than sacrificing them to speed.
Ridge preservation at the same appointment keeps the bone volume in the socket, so an implant later is placed into a site that is still there.
Who it is for
Teeth that cannot be saved — fractured, decayed beyond restoration, or with too little periodontal support left to hold them.
Teeth that have to come out for another reason: crowding, an impacted tooth, or preparation for other treatment.
An extraction is not a decision taken lightly, and if a tooth can be kept you will be told so.
Recovery
Expect soreness and swelling around the site, and softer food for a while. A surgical extraction generally asks more of the recovery than a simple one.
You will be given aftercare on the day — how to protect the clot, how to clean around the site, and what to do if something is not settling.
Cost and insurance
Cost depends on whether the extraction is simple or surgical, and whether ridge preservation is done at the same time. You will have the figure before anything is booked.
Our insurance coordinator works through what your plan covers.
Bone goes once the tooth that held it does. Preserving the site at the time of the extraction is what keeps your options open.
Questions we are asked
Open any of them. If yours is not here, the front desk will answer it on the phone.
01What is ridge preservation and do I need it?
It is grafting the socket at the time of extraction to hold the bone volume. Bone resorbs once a tooth is gone, so preserving the site keeps an implant straightforward later. Whether it is worth doing depends on what you plan for the space.
02Can I have an implant at the same appointment?
Sometimes, and sometimes the site needs to heal first. It depends on the bone, the reason for the extraction and whether there is infection present. It is assessed beforehand.
03What is the difference between simple and surgical?
A simple extraction removes a tooth that is visible and accessible. A surgical extraction is needed where it is impacted or broken at the root and has to be reached first.
04What if I just leave the gap?
That is a choice, but the bone that held the tooth begins to change once it is gone, and the teeth either side can drift. It is worth deciding deliberately rather than by default.
Not sure this is what you need?
Most people are not, on the first call. Book a comprehensive evaluation and we will tell you what we find, and what it would take to put right.