Tooth extraction in Turkey: when a tooth comes out, and when we keep it

A tooth extraction in Turkey is rarely the main reason for a trip, but it is part of many of them. When patients come to our Turkish dental clinic for implants, a bridge or a full set of new teeth, one or more failing teeth often need to come out first. At Precious Dental in Antalya those extractions are free when they are part of your treatment plan. This page covers how we decide, how removals are done, how the socket heals, and the cases where we would rather keep the tooth.

When a tooth needs to come out

We only advise removal when keeping the tooth would cause more trouble than it solves. The usual reasons we see in UK patients are:

• a crack that runs down into the root, which no crown can hold together
• decay so deep that too little tooth is left above the gum to rebuild
• advanced gum disease, where the bone holding the tooth has mostly gone and the tooth is loose
• a root-treated tooth that has become infected again and has a poor outlook for retreatment
• a wisdom tooth that keeps getting infected, is decaying, or is damaging the tooth in front
• teeth that cannot support a full-arch bridge, where implants will carry the new teeth instead

A tooth that looks bad is not always a tooth that must go. Old, dark fillings and chipped edges can usually be repaired. The decision rests on the root and the bone, which is why we look at an X-ray before we say anything.

When we try to save the tooth instead

Our dentists prefer to keep a healthy root where they reasonably can. Your own tooth keeps the bone around it, needs no healing period and still feels like part of you. If a tooth has an infected nerve but a sound root and enough structure above the gum, root canal treatment and a crown may give it many more years. If gum disease has loosened it only slightly, gum treatment first may be enough. See gum treatment for how that works.

We also see the opposite: patients told elsewhere that a whole row of teeth must be replaced, when only one or two are failing. If you have a recent X-ray or a panoramic OPG, send it and a dentist will reply in writing with their own opinion. That costs nothing and does not commit you to anything.

How an extraction is done at our clinic

1. Review from home. You send photos and an X-ray by WhatsApp or the form. The dentist marks in your written plan which teeth are likely to come out and why.
2. Scan on day one. Your first appointment in Antalya includes a 3D CBCT scan. It shows the shape and number of roots, how near they lie to the lower jaw nerve or, for upper molars, the sinus, and how much bone surrounds them.
3. Numbing. Local anaesthetic is given and tested before the dentist starts. If you are very anxious, ask for IV sedation, which an anaesthetist gives. See sedation dentistry.
4. Removal. The tooth is loosened gently and lifted out. Teeth with curved roots or buried wisdom teeth may be divided into pieces, or need a small cut in the gum. The aim is to protect the bone, especially where an implant will go.
5. Closing up. You bite on gauze to help a clot form. Stitches are placed if needed. You leave with written aftercare and any medicine prescribed.

Wisdom teeth

NICE guidance in the UK does not recommend removing wisdom teeth that are healthy and causing no problems. We follow the same thinking. A wisdom tooth that sits quietly and can be cleaned is usually left alone. Removal makes sense when there is repeated infection of the gum over the tooth, decay that cannot be treated, damage to the neighbouring molar, a cyst, or when the tooth is in the way of other planned work.

Upper wisdom teeth are often straightforward. Lower ones that are tilted or partly buried need more care, because the nerve that supplies feeling to the lip and chin runs close to their roots. The 3D scan shows that distance before the dentist decides how to approach the tooth.

Extractions before implants or full-arch teeth

Most of the extractions we carry out are part of implant work. For a single implant, the tooth is usually removed on the first trip and the implant placed either straight away or after the socket heals, depending on infection and bone. For full-arch treatment such as All-on-4 or All-on-6, the remaining failing teeth usually come out at the implant appointment, and temporary teeth are part of the package. The dentist confirms the sequence after the 3D scan.

The timing is set by the scan, not by the calendar. If an infection needs to settle first, we tell you, even if it means changing the plan. Read more on full mouth implants and dental implants.

Healing of the socket, and dry socket in brief

After a tooth comes out, the socket fills with a blood clot. That clot protects the bone and is the frame that new gum grows across over the next week or two. Bone fills in from below over the following months. For most people the area is tender for a day or two and then steadily improves.

The rules for the first days are simple: keep the gauze in place as told, avoid straws and hot drinks on day one, do not rinse on the first day, then from day two swirl warm salt water softly round the mouth after eating. Chew on the opposite side and keep to soft food.

A small number of patients get a dry socket, where the clot is lost early and the pain gets worse from about the second or third day. It is more likely after difficult lower back extractions and in smokers. We strongly advise no smoking for at least 72 hours. If it happens, a dentist cleans and dresses the socket, which usually brings relief quickly.

Who should take extra care, and the honest risks

Please tell us in advance if you take blood thinners, have had treatment for osteoporosis or cancer, have diabetes, or have had radiotherapy to the head or neck. These do not always rule out an extraction, but some change how and when it should be done, and a few mean an extraction is better done at home under your own doctor's care. A trip purely for one simple extraction is also rarely worth the travel.

What it costs and how the trip works

Extractions that are part of your treatment with us are free. That includes teeth removed before implants and the failing teeth taken out on the day of full-arch work. The rest of the plan is priced openly: an implant is £300, an implant with a zirconia crown £450, and All-on-4 £6,000 for both jaws. If bone is short after an extraction, a bone graft is £150 per 1cc. Full prices are on our prices page.

Extractions fit into your main trip. A first implant trip is usually 4 hotel nights and the second 5 nights; a crown or zirconia trip is 5 nights. Your airport, hotel and clinic transfers come with the package. Flights are not. You go home with copies of your X-rays and scans.