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The fact that tooth loss is a negative influence on your smile and oral health is no secret. That’s why much of your dental care is meant to help you avoid losing one or more teeth by restoring them when they’re compromised, or by addressing other concerns that could lead to their loss. However, there can be times when removing a tooth on purpose could be the best solution for preserving and protecting the rest of your oral health. Though such situations aren’t exactly common, the need for extracting the tooth when they occur can have serious implications for your immediate and long-term oral health.

Why it’s usually best to avoid tooth extraction

The fact that extracting a tooth means choosing to remove it hints at how serious the condition that leads to it can be. Typically, your dentist or oral health specialist will prefer to help you preserve as much of a tooth’s healthy, natural structure as possible. This is because losing a tooth, whether on accident or by design, can have long-lasting consequences on the health and integrity of your remaining teeth, as well as several other of your oral structures. If tooth extraction is recommended, it means there is no viable solution for saving the tooth, and its presence can become a significant threat.

When is extracting the tooth the best option?

For most types of oral health concerns, including the more complex ones, there’s often a solution for helping you regain your oral health and bite function by preserving your natural teeth. This means having to extract teeth is less common than it used to be, though some of the reasons why it might be necessary can include:

  • A third molar (wisdom tooth) has become impacted and unable to erupt properly
  • A tooth has suffered extensive damage to its natural structure
  • A tooth’s root has become fractured or broken underneath the gums
  • A tooth infection becomes too intensive to remove and save the tooth
  • A previous tooth restoration fails and the tooth becomes more severely compromised

What should you do for your smile afterward?

The need to extract a tooth means that the tooth is no longer able to perform the functions that it’s meant for, whether it’s due to extensive damage to its structure, severe infection, or serious alignment concerns. After extracting the tooth, the specific threat to your smile will also be removed. However, the loss of the natural tooth’s root and crown structure can still pose other concerns for your oral health. To address them, we may recommend replacing the tooth with a dental implant and crown as soon as possible, restoring your smile and most of your extracted tooth’s vital functions.

Find out if extracting your tooth is necessary

Tooth extraction isn’t often necessary, but in the few cases when it is, removing the tooth as soon as possible is typically best for your oral health. To learn more, or to schedule a consultation, call Cedar Dental in Cedar Rapids, IA, today at (319) 364-7108.