Part of welcoming a new patient to our Turlock dental practice is explaining our tooth-conserving dental treatment philosophy. In short, we believe in trying everything we can to save healthy teeth in your mouth before they are altered—for a crown, for example—or ultimately extracted. It’s important for the overall health of your mouth that healthy teeth and gums are preserved when it’s possible.
Sometimes, however, a tooth must be extracted because there is no other option to preserve the tooth and a crown is no longer an option. In this month’s blog post, we’ll describe several scenarios in which a tooth must be extracted, and we’ll give you some tips for what you can do afterward to preserve the remaining healthy supporting structures, such as your gums and jawbone.
Bad Tooth Damage
Many people experience damage to their teeth at some point in their lives. It may be a stray foul ball that smacks you in the mouth, or you may be eating something and feel part of a tooth crack and break off. Sometimes an injury to a tooth may be bad enough that we require that the tooth be extracted because it can no longer effectively be repaired.
Severe Tooth Decay
If tooth decay reaches the tooth pulp and causes an infection, sometimes a tooth extraction can be prevented with a technique called a root canal. In severe cases of tooth decay, however, an infection may spread to the point where extracting a tooth is the best option to protect other healthy teeth and gums in a patient’s mouth.
Severe Gum Disease
Periodontal disease, often called gum disease, is a progressive disease that weakens the structures that support your teeth in the jawbone. Severe gum disease left untreated can cause teeth to become loose. In this case, a tooth may need to be extracted to restore a patient’s gum health before other teeth also need to be extracted.
Wisdom Teeth
About 85% of people in the United States will have their wisdom teeth extracted. They may need to be removed to prevent overcrowding and bite issues from occurring. Additionally, impacted wisdom teeth—that is, wisdom teeth that do not fully erupt from the gumline—may damage other teeth or cause severe shifting. In many cases, oral surgery is needed to remove impacted wisdom teeth.
What You Can Do After a Tooth Extraction
After a tooth is removed, excluding wisdom tooth extractions, you may want to consider a dental implant or a dental bridge. Having missing tooth space in your jawline can cause teeth to shift, the gumline to recede, and the jawbone to begin to deteriorate. To protect your tooth and gum health following a tooth extraction, ask your dentist about all your options to fill in the missing tooth space.
Thanks for Reading!
We hope you never need a tooth extraction, but it’s important to know about the leading causes for one so you can prevent it.
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