When your tooth has been damaged by decay, gum disease or any condition that renders it hopeless your dentist may have to perform the extraction procedure. This procedure removes the tooth completely from the mouth. Your dentist will give you a local anesthetic injection to ensure the procedure is painless.

A simple tooth extraction will be performed on a tooth that can still be seen from the mouth. This is the most common procedure used. The dentist will use an instrument called an elevator to loosen the affected tooth. After the tooth is loose it will then be removed with forceps. The second method of tooth extraction is a surgical extraction. This procedure is used when a tooth has broken off at the gum level or has not come through the gum yet. The dentist will retrieve the tooth by making an incision into the gum and sometimes remove some of the bone around the tooth.