extraction..dentist shoveling hard under tooth

[toothhealing]

went to access dental for a single root tooth removal....they assigned me a young lady dentist...i thought maybe she was a intern for she walked around checking in with orders of the older dentist...but im on medi-cal so i accepted who they assigned me ..anyway..she started shoveling hard under the tooth and root trying to get the tooth out cause it would not disconnect after gentle leveling attempts....i eventuallly stopped her after awhile i was worried about the nerve underneath being damaged..she then went and got the oral surgeon and he cut it out quickly and kept apologizing for her not being able to get tooth out...i was very respectful and calm about the whole thing...my question is ..i have another tooth second molar bottom to be extracted that split down the middle....is it normal procedure for her to shoveling with leveler that hard under the tooth to get it loose...i am worried about this molar being extracted on bottom level..now.........

 

[Dr. John Jay]

Sorry to hear about your terrible experience. If you have denti-cal (you mentioned medi-cal which is covers your medical not dental needs in California) then chances are that you'll end up with an inexperienced younger dentist. However it's great that there was an oral surgeon around to jump in and save the day. Your concerns about nerve damage are legit. Nerve damage can occur if your dentist is not careful during tooth removal surgery. I hate to tell you this, but removing difficult broken teeth does involve some shoveling as you call it. The more broken down your teeth are, the harder removing them becomes. Also infected and broken teeth are more difficult to numb up and may require additional shots. Either way, it's good that you found an oral surgeon who knows what he or she is doing. My advice to you is to go directly to the oral surgeon next time you need a tooth removed. Removing broken down teeth is difficult for general dentists, particularly the younger ones. It's probably worth spending a little out of pocket, I'm guessing the oral surgeon probably charged you for bone graft placement, then to risk permanent nerve damage or other serious complications. And don't even think about not removing your other broken tooth piece! Rotten root pieces can cause many medical and dental issues if neglected and left in your mouth. Hope this helped and best of luck to you.

Dr. John Jay
Dentist and occasional blogger at dentaldecider.com