When a child’s deciduous teeth do not fall out because of overcrowding or the absence of a permanent tooth to replace it, the body will begin resorbing the tooth back into itself.
Because this process occurs at the root level, some of the tooth’s structure will remain above, with some left below the gumline. As a result, the extraction of these remnants would need to be performed to remove what is left of the child’s baby tooth.
From a procedure standpoint, an extraction is fairly straightforward. Your dentist would provide local anesthetic to numb the area surrounding the tooth. Or, if your child is overly anxious about the procedure, analgesia may be administered.
Your dentist will likely need to rock the tooth back and forth within its socket to ease in its removal. This is done either with a pair of forceps, or a dental tool known as an elevator, which is akin to a common lever, and somewhat resembles a small flat-head screwdriver.
Since the bone in our jaws is soft, unlike some of the other bones in our body, this gentle rocking motion actually compresses the bone slightly so the tooth can be removed without the need to apply excessive force.
Final removal is usually done with a tug of the forceps.
To look up and find more CDT dental codes from the American Dental Association, please visit our complete Dental Procedure Code Library.