Is it possible to pull a tooth on your own?

You may have a tooth that’s been bothering you, or perhaps one that feels loose. And if immediate dental care isn’t available, the thought of pulling it yourself might cross your mind. (In fact, this article tells the story of a man who pulled his own molar.)

However, while the idea of do-it-yourself (DIY) tooth extraction might seem appealing, it comes with significant risks and challenges.

This guide explores the realities of self-extraction, assessing its feasibility and safety while highlighting why this approach is generally discouraged. From the practical challenges to the potential health risks, our guide strives to explain why a DIY extraction is rarely in your best interest—even when access to your dentist’s services is limited.

Is doing a DIY extraction possible?

Your dentist probably has at least one patient they know of who has.

We expect that probably every dentist has been told by at least one of their patients that they’ve pulled one of their own teeth.

The usual details …

The classic scenario is one where the person, typically one of some years, had a lower front incisor that had extensive gum recession. And was so loose that it practically flapped in the breeze.

The story usually continues with …

• The tooth had been gradually loosening up over the years. And then, there was a sudden traumatic event (like biting into something hard) that finally loosened it up severely.
• The person tested the waters by wiggling and twisting on the tooth, gradually more and more, and found that doing so didn’t really hurt very much.
• They then finally decided to just go for it, and twisted the tooth back and forth until it came on out.
• The story wraps up with the person saying how surprised they were by how little the extraction site bled.

How a dentist would interpret this story.

Upon hearing their patient’s narrative, any dentist who might have been alarmed initially about the level of pain that must have been endured soon begins to understand what took place and why they were able to get it out.

The situation that existed.

• The patient had a lower front tooth that had been severely compromised by the effects of advanced gum disease.
• The extensive gum recession that occurred was an indication of the extent of the disease process. By this point, there was very little bone still encasing the tooth’s root, meaning it was primarily just anchored in gum tissue.
• Twisting the tooth back and forth stripped that attachment away from its root, with the tooth then coming out simply, quickly, and relatively cleanly.
• The lack of bleeding was testament to how little tissue attachment was still holding the tooth in place.

Every dentist knows how easy these (small, ample access, single-rooted) teeth can be to take out. In fact, when removing multiple teeth, some of which are in this condition, a dentist may feel sheepish about charging full price for extracting them.

So, is it OK to pull your own tooth?

Well, despite what can be or is sometimes done, we can’t imagine a scenario where a dentist, carte blanche, would recommend to their patient that they should just go ahead and extract their own tooth. There’s just too much room for a person to get themselves into trouble. Here are some examples how.

Reasons why pulling your tooth yourself makes a poor idea.

Some of the biggest concerns a dentist would have with condoning self-extraction would have to do with all of the unknowns involved.

Some of these are issues that must be known before the process of extracting a tooth is even considered. Others are things a layperson won’t know to do or how to do, either as a part of the extraction process or post-operatively. Here are some details.

a) Do you understand your tooth’s condition?

Being able to physically remove a tooth by yourself is one thing. Understanding why the tooth has developed the problem that it has, and understanding the different ways that that issue affects you, your oral health, and the extraction process, is equally important.

A diagnosis of your situation is needed. And that’s something your dentist can offer that you can’t. Additionally, it’s common that dental X-rays are necessary to be able to form that conclusion, something that no layperson can provide on their own.

b) Are you expert enough to interpret factors related to your health history?

Dentists never perform a tooth extraction without taking a complete health history first. That’s because there are a number of situations and conditions (active infection, medical/health issues, taking medications, etc…) that may need to affect the way the procedure is approached.

• A person planning to extract their tooth on their own may have a recent history of taking an OTC medication to control the pain they’ve been experiencing, without understanding that it may be a compound that can interfere with controlling post-extraction bleeding.
• The bacteremia (the introduction of bacteria into the bloodstream) that occurs following a tooth extraction can result in serious complications for people who have certain medical issues.

c) Removing the tooth – How?

With very loose teeth, it’s pretty simple for someone to mimic the action of a dentist’s extraction instruments just using their fingers. But beyond that, attempting to use any type of tool to pull or work a tooth loose would seem a guaranteed recipe for disaster.

In the hands of a novice, using bona fide dental extraction instruments could easily result in tooth fracture, or damage to neighboring teeth. The use of makeshift instruments would seem even more foolhearty.

Knowing the entire tooth is out is important.

Every dentist has a general idea of the size and shape of the tooth they’re getting ready to extract. (And typically they’ll have an X-ray of the tooth that confirms their expectations.)

In lieu of having that level of knowledge, a layperson might do a web search to get an idea of the usual form, and even average root length, of the tooth they plan to self-extract. But even so, a question of if all of a tooth’s root(s) had actually been removed might exist.

As a check, a dentist will feel a tooth’s root surface–checking that it’s smooth and rounded (no sharp/broken edges). But a novice’s ability to definitively determine if their self-extracted tooth was entirely intact or not would be a point of question.

Experiencing minor fragments coming to the surface of the gums during the healing process is one thing but larger pieces left behind can pose a significant complication.

d) Can the pain of the process be controlled? – Probably not.

A giant obstacle to performing a DIY tooth extraction is the obvious one. There’s no way for the person to predictably/adequately control the associated pain.

We couldn’t help but notice that in the news article mentioned above, the person stated that the pain associated with their experience (which took 1.5 hours) was “hideous” and at one point almost caused them to faint.

That’s not really surprising to hear. Even after administering local anesthetic (giving dental “shots”), a dentist can still struggle with making a tooth extraction a totally painless experience for their patient.

The only possibility – Topical anesthetic.

As compared to a dentist’s ability to administer a local anesthetic via a dental injection, the only type of anesthetic that a layperson has access to and can administer is a topical one, like benzocaine.

The word “topical” means that the medication (gel, ointment, liquid) is applied to the surface of the skin. And, unfortunately, that’s all that this type of anesthetic is good for, just numbing up the surface layer of gum tissue.

It doesn’t have the ability to penetrate into or through gum tissue. And because of that, applying it has no ability to numb up teeth, their surrounding bone tissue, or even the full thickness of gum tissue that lies around them.

The best hope for numbing things up.

Possibly, a person who has a very loose tooth that has extensive gum recession might be able to take the edge off the self-extraction process by slathering topical anesthetic around their tooth. Making sure to let it seep into the space between the gums and tooth as much as it will.

But while this approach might be fairly effective for pulling a loose baby tooth (that typically just has a minimal amount of root left), doing so is unlikely to be fully effective for extracting a permanent one.

e) Needed bleeding control and post-operative care instructions.

We’ll wrap our list up with mentioning that someone pulling their own tooth may not have a proper grasp of what post-operative steps are needed.

All dentists provide their patients with a tailored set of instructions about clot formation and how to protect after it forms. They’ll also tailor a set of post-op directions explaining the steps they should take during the first day, and then the days following, their extraction. Understanding and following all of these steps are important.

So for all of these reasons …

The idea of pulling your own tooth is a hard one for any dentist to embrace.

What does dental literature say about performing do-it-yourself extractions?

When searching through published dental literature, we were surprised by how little mention there is of this topic.

We didn’t find any studies that had specifically researched occurrences of or complications associated with self-extraction. Nor did we find any articles that provided how-to information (like might be appropriate as first aid for people in circumstances of extreme isolation).

What we did find were these articles …

• A case report (Di Hipolito 2003) that describes a person who made their own makeshift dental work using self-extracted lower front teeth that had been ravaged by the effects of gum disease. (A situation like we described at the top of this page.)
• A (humorous in our mind) letter to the editor of the Journal of the American Dental Association (Masillamoni 1989) where an event of self-extraction is mentioned.

  In this case, a patient at their dentist’s office had evidently been numbed up for an extraction. Then, unexpectedly, they went ahead and pulled the tooth on their own. The dentist writing the letter felt strongly that the person should still be charged the full price for the extraction anyway.

• A case report (Carvalho 2017) describing a do-it-yourself extraction of a lower front baby tooth (by the child’s aunt). The tooth had a longer root than normally exists at the time of exfoliation. As the tooth was wrestled out, the extra leverage associated with the extraction process resulted in a portion of the jawbone immediately adjacent to the tooth breaking and coming out too.

  Had a dentist performed the extraction, their x-ray would have revealed the abnormal root length. A plan for minimizing the potential for the complication could have then been devised.

Some final thoughts.

While pulling your own tooth may seem like a possibility, the associated risks and potential complications are real. Safe, predictable tooth removal is something only a dentist can provide.

If you’re facing tooth pain or mobility, the best next step is to schedule an appointment rather than attempting a do-it-yourself solution. And doing so sooner rather than later always makes the best plan.

Comments.

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