Nobody wants to lose a tooth, and at New Street Dental, nobody loses one that can reasonably be saved. Dr. Tunney is conservative by conviction: extraction is the last resort, recommended only when a tooth is truly beyond rescue or when wisdom teeth threaten the rest of your mouth. But when a tooth does need to come out, we make it as calm and comfortable as modern dentistry allows, right here in our Bethlehem office, often the same day you call.
In pain now? Call (610) 867-7112. Same-day emergency appointments are available, and schedule permitting, an urgent extraction can often happen at the same visit.
When Does a Tooth Need to Come Out?
Extraction becomes the honest recommendation in a few situations:
- Decay or infection too deep to fix. When damage reaches beyond what a filling, crown, or root canal can repair.
- A tooth cracked below the gumline or split at the root. These usually cannot be saved.
- Advanced gum disease that has loosened a tooth beyond recovery.
- Crowding or problem wisdom teeth (more on those below).
- A baby tooth that will not let go and is blocking the adult tooth behind it.
Before any extraction, Dr. Tunney shows you the problem on our instant digital X-rays and chairside cameras, explains why the tooth cannot be saved, and answers every question. If there is a realistic way to keep the tooth, you will hear it first; patients regularly mention that honesty in their reviews.
Wisdom Teeth: The Most Common Extraction
Wisdom teeth (third molars) arrive in the late teens and early twenties, and for millions of people, there simply is not room. Around 5 million Americans have them removed every year. When they cannot erupt properly, wisdom teeth can crowd and shift the rest of your teeth, trap food and decay where a brush cannot reach, and become impacted (stuck beneath the gums), causing pain, inflammation, cysts, and even jaw or nerve damage.
Dr. Tunney monitors wisdom teeth as part of regular exams for our teen and young adult patients, using magnified digital X-rays to see exactly how they are developing. His approach is the same as with everything else: no unnecessary surgery, ever. If your wisdom teeth have room and behave, they stay. If they are trouble, you will see the X-ray and understand exactly why.
Simple vs. Surgical Extraction: What the Words Mean
Simple extraction. For a tooth that is fully visible above the gums. After thorough numbing with local anesthesia, the tooth is gently loosened and removed. Most patients report feeling pressure and nothing more.
Surgical extraction. For impacted wisdom teeth or teeth broken at the gumline, a small incision in the gum is needed to reach the tooth, which is often removed in sections to protect the surrounding tissue. It sounds dramatic; in practice it is a routine, carefully planned procedure done under effective anesthesia.
In select cases Dr. Tunney performs extractions, including wisdom teeth, in-house, so you stay with the team you know. When a case genuinely calls for an oral surgeon (complex impactions, certain health situations), we will tell you directly and coordinate the referral properly.
Recovery: What the First Week Looks Like
Straight answers about healing, because knowing what is normal keeps you calm:
- Day 1: Bite gently on gauze, rest, and use a cold compress for swelling. Mild oozing is normal. Protect the blood clot in the socket: no straws, no smoking, no vigorous rinsing.
- Days 2 to 3: Mild swelling and soreness peak, then start fading. Over-the-counter anti-inflammatories usually handle it. Eat soft, lukewarm foods.
- Days 4 to 7: Steady improvement. Most people are back to work or school the day after a simple extraction, longer for surgical cases. Skip strenuous exercise until we clear you.
You will leave with written aftercare instructions for your exact situation; you can preview our extraction aftercare guide and, for upper back teeth near the sinus, our detailed sinus exposure aftercare guide. If anything worsens instead of improving (increasing pain after day 3, bad taste, fever), call us; it is usually fixable quickly.
Replacing the Tooth Afterward
Except for wisdom teeth, an extracted tooth generally should be replaced. A missing tooth lets neighbors drift, changes your bite, and starts a slow loss of jawbone at the empty spot. Before your extraction, Dr. Tunney will walk you through replacement options and honest timing: a dental implant (the option that also preserves the bone), a fixed bridge, or a partial denture. Planning the replacement before the extraction usually gives the best result, and often the extraction and replacement plan happen as one coordinated treatment.
What Does a Tooth Extraction Cost in Bethlehem?
Cost depends on the tooth and the type of extraction: a loose, fully visible tooth is a simpler procedure than an impacted wisdom tooth. Here is our standing promise:
- A written, same-day insurance estimate before treatment. Extractions that are medically necessary are covered in part by most dental plans.
- We accept most major plans, including Aetna, Blue Cross Dental, Cigna, Concordia, Delta Dental, Guardian, and MetLife.
- Third-party financing can spread costs into monthly payments, especially useful when extraction is part of a larger plan like implants or dentures.
If pain is what brought you here, do not let cost questions delay the call; the estimate is free of surprises, and infections only get more expensive with time.
Calm Care for a Nervous Moment
If any dental visit deserves anxiety, it is this one, and it is exactly the visit our practice is built for. Dr. Gene Tunney (DDS, New York University) is known across Bethlehem for a gentle touch and a no-pressure chairside manner; patients routinely tell us the extraction they dreaded for weeks turned out to be a non-event. We explain everything before it happens, numb thoroughly, and check on you throughout.
We provide extractions for patients across the Lehigh Valley: Bethlehem, Bethlehem Township, Fountain Hill, Freemansburg, Hellertown, Catasauqua, Center Valley, Nazareth, and Allentown, at 920 N New Street in Bethlehem.