When a tooth truly cannot be saved: removed carefully under local anesthetic, with the replacement planned before the extraction, not after.
Family Dental Care Missouri performs tooth extractions at 1010 Walnut St, Suite 280, downtown Kansas City, under local anesthetic with written aftercare. Replacement options are planned and priced before the tooth is removed. Call (816) 439-7715.
Reviewed by Dr. Navkiran Warya, DDS - August 2026
Last resort, done wellMost teeth that hurt can be kept: a filling, root canal treatment or a crown handles the large majority of damage. Extraction earns its place when the arithmetic genuinely fails, when a tooth is fractured below the gum, hollowed past rebuilding, or loosened by advanced gum disease. When that is the situation, we say so plainly, show you the X-ray, and do the removal as carefully as the diagnosis: full anesthetic, gentle technique, and written aftercare that tells you hour by hour what normal healing looks like.
| Timeframe | Do | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| First hour | Bite firmly on the gauze | Poking the site, spitting |
| First 24 hours | Rest, cold compress outside the cheek, soft food | Smoking, straws, vigorous rinsing, alcohol |
| Day 2-3 | Gentle warm salt-water rinses, normal brushing elsewhere | Chewing on the site |
| Day 3-7 | Return gradually to normal food | Ignoring worsening pain - call us instead |
An extracted tooth leaves a space that does not stay neutral: neighbors tilt into it, the opposing tooth drifts down or up to meet nothing, and the bite slowly reorganizes around the gap. So the replacement conversation happens before the extraction, with the realistic options, a dental implant, a bridge or a partial denture, priced in writing next to each other. Wisdom teeth are the exception that usually needs no replacement, and they have their own page: wisdom teeth removal. If sudden pain or swelling is what brought you here, start at the emergency page and call now.
When keeping it stops being the better option: decay or fracture below the gumline that leaves nothing to rebuild on, advanced gum disease that has taken the supporting bone, a split root, or an infection that treatment cannot resolve. Extraction is never our first suggestion for a savable tooth, and when we do recommend it you will hear exactly why the alternatives will not work for yours. Call (816) 439-7715.
The extraction itself should not. The area is numbed thoroughly with local anesthetic and tested before anything starts; what you feel during the procedure is firm pressure, which surprises people, but not sharp pain, and if you feel more than pressure you signal and we stop and top up. The days afterwards involve soreness that standard pain relief manages, and written aftercare tells you exactly what to expect. Call (816) 439-7715.
Bite on the gauze for the first hour, rest for the day, and keep the blood clot in the socket undisturbed: no smoking, no drinking through straws, no vigorous rinsing for the first 24 hours, because losing that clot causes dry socket, the one genuinely painful complication. From day two, gentle salt-water rinses and soft food on the other side. You leave with all of this in writing, plus our number. Call (816) 439-7715.
We plan the replacement before the extraction, which is the right order. A gap left alone lets neighboring teeth drift and the opposing tooth over-erupt, so the options, an implant, a bridge or a partial denture, are laid out with costs before the tooth comes out, and the site is managed with the chosen replacement in mind. Nobody is pressured to decide on a painful day, but nobody leaves without a plan either. Call (816) 439-7715.
The area is numbed thoroughly with local anesthetic and tested before anything begins. The tooth is then loosened and lifted out, which produces firm pressure rather than sharp pain, and gauze is placed for you to bite on. Most single extractions take well under an hour from sitting down to leaving. You go home with written aftercare, and with our number for any question that comes up that evening. Call (816) 439-7715.