CAN TOOTH EXTRACTION BE PERFORMED ON A DIABETIC PATIENT?
Getting a dental treatment when you’re experiencing a dental problem or maintaining your oral health, is the right to do. However, getting the wrong type of treatment that doesn’t suit you can bring in complications later. This is why it is best to seek advice from your dentist before undergoing a particular dental treatment. You might be wondering why this is important. Well, you will know more about this after reading this article.
Tooth extraction is the total removal of a tooth due to pains and discomfort caused by a tooth infection. After a tooth extraction has been performed on a patient, they don’t feel the pain anymore because the pain goes away with the infected tooth unless in rare cases when multiple teeth are infected and only one was removed. An oral and maxillofacial surgeon is specialized in performing tooth extractions as well as other dental procedures that include the teeth roots and bones around the dental region. However, a dentist can perform tooth extraction but then, they are not as deeply involved in the procedure as an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. It is important to know if you are the right candidate for tooth extraction. Before we go further into explaining how dental extractions might or might not be suitable for diabetic patients, we need to understand what diabetes is and why this medical condition might cause complications during or after dental extractions.
Diabetes is of different kinds and they are due to different reasons. There is diabetes insipidus which is a problem with the functioning of the anti-diuretic hormones in the collecting ducts of nephrons of the kidney. The second type is diabetes mellitus which is caused due to problems in passing out of insulin from the pancreas. This is the common type of diabetes also known as type 2 diabetes and it is found in older people from the age of 55 and above. There is also juvenile diabetes which is also known as type 1 diabetes and is found mostly in younger ones. This is when the body fails to produce insulin from an early stage in life and this can result in to use of artificial insulin for life.
The normal blood sugar level is between 79mg/dl to 140mg/dl. When excess sugar can not be converted to energy, the excess glucose will be detrimental to the body thereby causing excess sugar in the blood that the body does not need. Diabetes weakens the immune system and makes a person at higher risk of getting all kinds of infections in the body which can start from the mouth. The major problem with diabetic patients is the healing process. Due to the weak immune system, the body will not be able to heal from wounds easily. This makes tooth extraction a difficult procedure for a diabetic patient.
How Is Tooth Extraction Performed In Diabetic Patients?
Since the patient in severe pain caused by the infected tooth, the patient might need to see an dentist near you or a dentist in Gilbert, AZ. who will examine the teeth and request the help of a physician specialized to diagnose and confirm if the patient is diabetic. When it has been confirmed that the patient is diabetic, the dentist won’t perform the surgery if the patient’s blood sugar is beyond 200mg/dl. This means that the patient would have to undergo strict medications for diabetes for 2 weeks to bring down the blood sugar level below 200mg/dl. Then the blood sugar level will be checked again.
Before the tooth extraction can be performed, the dentist would make sure that the patient’s blood sugar level is not so high or beyond 200mg/dl. If the sugar level is higher than 200mg/dl, the teeth doctor would advise that the patient undergoes strict medication for diabetes prescribed by an authorized physician and wait till the sugar level reduces.
If the blood sugar level doesn’t reduce and the patient is suffering from extreme pain caused by the tooth infection, the tooth extraction might be performed but the procedure will be based on rigorous decision making. At the end of the day, the patient still has a part to play in this decision-making. If he or she decides to have the tooth extracted, the dentist would have to prepare for tooth extraction but with utmost care. The presence of an authorized physician would be needed (in case complications arise). If the patient is anxious, the dentist can provide the patient with sedation so that he or she would feel relaxed during the procedure. You can get all of these with Gilbert sedation dentistry. After the teeth have been extracted, the patient would have to perform good teeth extraction aftercare. Also, the patient must diligently take his or her medications for diabetes to aid the healing process. The patient should also visit the dentist at least twice a week after the tooth extraction till the patient recovers.