Centuries ago, extracting a tooth that was decaying or damaged was common practice. There weren’t many common options for restoring natural teeth, and the consequences of losing one weren’t as well understood as they are today. Now, however, there’s a solution for almost every dental health concern that can help you restore and preserve your smile without having to remove the tooth. Despite that, there are still cases when a tooth can’t be saved, even with customized, advanced dental restoration. In such cases, tooth extraction can still be the preferable option, as long as you decide to replace the tooth, as well.
Why you should consider extraction carefully
With advanced dental health treatments, you have a better chance at preserving your natural teeth when a dental concern strikes. Tooth extraction is still recommended today, but unlike in the past, it’s reserved only for when it’s absolutely necessary. That means a tooth is so compromised or ill-positioned that restoring it isn’t a viable option, and ignoring it can threaten the rest of your oral health. Before recommending it, we’ll carefully examine the tooth in question and the overall state of your oral health to ensure that removing the tooth is your best option.
When it’s best to extract the tooth
A severe dental health concern can mean several different things, such as extreme tooth infection or extensive structural damage. Therefore, the need to extract a tooth and the specific concerns you can prevent by doing so depend on your unique oral health needs. For instance, you may have treated tooth decay before, but the restoration has failed and your tooth’s infection has grown significantly more severe. Or, a tooth that was only chipped or minorly damaged may have progressed faster than you anticipated, and restoring it is no longer an option by the time you seek treatment. We can help you determine if extracting your tooth is the best option, and help you plan for restoring your smile by replacing the tooth as soon as possible afterward.
Why replacing it should be part of the plan
Recommending tooth extraction as a last resort is one way to help mitigate the effects of tooth loss on your smile. If it is recommended, you can lessen those effects further by replacing the extracted tooth with a dental implant after it’s been extracted. A dental implant is a root-like post that we can insert into your jawbone to replace the root of your extracted tooth. Then, we can secure a highly lifelike, custom-designed dental crown to the post to create a realistic replacement for the tooth, complete with a supportive, root-like anchor.
Learn if your tooth should be extracted and replaced
In some severe cases, your smile might have the best chance at a healthy future if you extract and replace a tooth that’s been compromised. To learn more, schedule a consultation by calling Santa Rosa Oral Surgery in Santa Rosa, CA, today at 707-545-4625.