There are many options for addressing a wide range of oral health problems, and most are designed specifically to help you preserve as much of your healthy, natural tooth structure as possible. However, in some cases, extracting a tooth is the preferable solution for your oral health, depending on the severity of your oral health concern. The reason tooth extraction isn’t more frequently recommended is because it involves removing all of your tooth’s structure and, in many cases, replacing it. However, when it is recommended, it’s important to seek treatment to restore your smile as soon as possible.
Why it’s a last resort option
Your oral health is complex, and its many different parts rely more heavily on each other than you may realize. For this reason, it’s especially important to preserve your healthy, natural tooth structure and its connection to the rest of your oral health. This is often the goal of most oral health treatment plans, and often, it can be achieved by addressing a concern with your tooth structure or oral tissues as soon as possible. Yet, in severe cases, the tooth structure that remains may be so severely compromised, or positioned in a way that makes it a threat to the rest of your oral health.
When extracting a tooth is appropriate
Despite being a last resort option, tooth extraction can benefit your smile in numerous ways when it is necessary. For example, some of the reasons why extracting a tooth might be recommended include severe damage or infection to its structure, in which a custom dental restoration won’t suffice to restore it. In other cases, a tooth (such as a third molar, or wisdom tooth) may become impacted and require extraction to alleviate the pressure it’s putting on surrounding teeth and oral tissues.
Considerations after tooth extraction
When your tooth is extracted because it’s health and integrity have become compromised, the extraction procedure will help preserve your oral health by removing the threat it could pose. However, the loss of the tooth structure will still remain a factor in your oral health moving forward, and addressing the loss may be essential in fully restoring your smile. Because of this, we may suggest replacing the extracted tooth as soon as possible with a dental implant restoration, which can replace both the root and crown of your extracted tooth to more successfully restore the connection to the rest of your oral structures.
Learn if tooth extraction is necessary
Your natural adult teeth should only be extracted if absolutely necessary, which has become less common these days thanks to more advanced oral health care. To learn more, or to schedule a consultation, call Santa Rosa Oral Surgery in Santa Rosa, CA, today at 707-545-4625.
