When You Can’t Fix a Tooth, Extract It

Restoring teeth is an important and common part of professional dental care, and for many people, it’s a lifeline to helping them avoid tooth loss. However, some compromised teeth may be too far gone to fix, and the longer they remain, the bigger the threat might be to the rest of your oral health. Fortunately, you still have a solution to saving your smile. When a tooth can’t be fixed, we may recommend extracting the tooth and replacing in order to restore your bite’s function and your smile’s healthy, attractive appearance.

Because it can’t support a restoration

Some of the more common teeth to be extracted are those that are too damaged or decayed that they can’t be restored. This can mean a variety of things, such as the tooth being too fractured to function even with a restoration, or having too much of its structure destroyed to support the restoration once it’s placed. Depending on the nature of the damage, the tooth structure itself can cause harm to the surrounding gums and soft oral tissues, and it can grow worse under your bite’s pressure the longer you wait to extract the tooth.

Because its previous restoration failed

Some teeth may be severely compromised but still restorable, in which case treatment such as a dental crown may be able to save it. However, if the restoration fails, the tooth may not longer be viable to receive another one, and the only option left may be to extract the tooth and replace it. The best way to prevent a failed restoration is to take good care of it and your teeth with excellent hygiene and regular visits to your dentist’s office. If the restoration does fail, then schedule an emergency visit to see if the tooth can still be saved before it sustains further damage.

Because the tooth is impacted

Besides severely compromised teeth, impacted teeth are also common candidates for extraction. Third molars, or wisdom teeth, can often become impacted before they can fully erupt from the gum line. This impaction can lead to a wide range of potential issues, including damage to your jawbone structure and complications with the teeth that they push against. Because of this, wisdom teeth are often extracted to remove alleviate the discomfort and prevent increasingly worse oral health problems.

Find out if you need to extract a tooth

If you have a tooth that can’t be fixed, then restoring your smile could mean extracting the tooth so your dentist can replace it. To learn more, schedule an appointment by calling Peddicord Family Dentistry in Ankeny, IA, today at (515) 963-3339. We also proudly serve patients of all ages who live in Bondurant, Polk City, Elkhart, Alleman, Cambridge, and all surrounding communities.