Although we go to great lengths to help you keep your natural teeth, there are cases when a tooth simply cannot be salvaged. Dr. Pennington will carefully and gently extract your damaged tooth, using the minimally invasive approach of removing the tooth in segments.
Extractions & Wisdom Teeth
Comfortable and Gentle Extractions
Although we go to great lengths to help you keep your natural teeth, there are cases when a tooth simply cannot be salvaged. Dr. Pennington will carefully and gently extract your damaged tooth, using the minimally invasive approach of removing the tooth in segments.
Wisdom Tooth Extractions
Wisdom teeth are third molars that generally emerge in your late teens or early twenties. If wisdom teeth are in a good position, they can provide extra strength while chewing. However, they are often misaligned and may cause problems because:
- Wisdom teeth may emerge at an odd and uncomfortable angle or are facing the wrong direction.
- When there is not enough room in the mouth for wisdom teeth to fully emerge through the gum, a flap of gum tissue may grow over the area, allowing food to be trapped and possibly lead to a gum infection.
- Wisdom teeth that are very crowded may become difficult to clean and lead to decay or gum disease.
- If the jaw doesn’t have enough space for the wisdom teeth to emerge, they may become impacted (trapped) in the jaw and unable to break through the gums.
In these cases, Dr. Pennington may recommend removing the wisdom tooth or teeth causing trouble. Dr. Pennington has nearly 20 years of experience in wisdom tooth extraction, including impacted wisdom teeth.
Socket Preservation
The gap created when a tooth is extracted can be problematic, causing the jawbone and gum to deteriorate and shrink due to lack of stimulation from a tooth.
Our doctors perform socket preservation to maintain the integrity of the jawbone, as well as to prepare the empty socket for dental implant placement.
Socket preservation is a technique using bone graft material to fill the socket and prevent deterioration of the jawbone. Plasma rich in growth factors is also used when providing socket preservation to enhance bone and tissue regeneration. This technology allows for faster healing and recovery time.
When needed, our doctors use Arestin® time-release antibiotic therapy to prevent a possible infection.
IV Sedation and Comfort Amenities
While serving in the United States Air Force, Dr. Pennington received advanced training in the use of sedation to help patients remain comfortable during longer or more complicated procedures.
To ensure your comfort, we provide IV and oral sedation for some procedures or to help patients who are anxious or fearful of dental treatment.
We also offer our Comfort Menu prior to beginning a procedure and ask that you note the services that will put you at ease during your treatment. You may choose to have warm blankets, support your legs or neck with pillows or listen to music with noise-cancelling headphones.
Meet Our Doctors
Our doctors provide experienced, comprehensive care with kindness and compassion.
Sid Parker, DMD
Dr. Parker gets rave reviews from his patients and his peers. He is known for his kind and gentle touch, friendly, easy-going manner, and his genuine concern for his patients’ well-being. Many patients warmly address him as “Dr. Sid”, and others have called him their hero. He is often referred to as a “perfectionist” by patients and peers alike.
Jeff Pennington, DMD
While attending high school, Dr. Pennington worked at Radenco Dental Lab in Millen, Georgia. He continued to work at dental labs while pursuing his Bachelor of Science at Georgia Southern University, which reinforced his appreciation of the skilled craftsmanship that is required to create lifelike dental restorations.
