Categories: Tooth Extraction

When to Consider Extracting a Tooth

For some adults, the biggest threat to their oral health involves chronic teeth-grinding that ultimately leads to a jaw dysfunction known as TMJ disorder. For a number of other people, however, their biggest dental concern typically involves the damage caused by decay and infection. Indeed, your dentist will attempt to preserve your natural tooth as best as it can be preserved, however, there are few circumstances in which the best option to consider may be an extraction. In today’s blog, your Northwest IN dentist will take a look at the circumstances that may warrant the removal of a tooth, as well as how our team can help.

Posing a Threat to Other Teeth

Oftentimes, the concerns that bring forward the biggest impact on our healthy grins is caused by harmful oral bacteria that target our natural structures. In fact, bacteria are present in every smile, and often thrives in warm, moist areas that can be difficult to clean, such as the gums, behind teeth, and on or around the back molars. When they are permitted to stay, they feed off of food particles and sugars to grow and multiply. These bacteria then secrete a harmful acid onto the teeth, causing the strength of the structure to weaken over time, thus forming a small hole known as a cavity. If it is not addressed, this hole can continue to grow and become more and more infected until a restorative procedure will no longer be effective, warranting a removal.

Another concern that arises from a compromised tooth includes the ability to affect surrounding teeth. Because the structure is often experiencing decay and infection from oral bacteria, the chances of the same occurring to surrounding teeth is increased exponentially. In other words, without appropriate treatment, you will be at risk of not losing one tooth, but multiple.

When Its Damaged Beyond Repair

In addition to threatening other teeth, a tooth may warrant extraction when it is beyond saving. Essentially, your dentist will attempt to restore your structure with a number of methods before resulting to removal. For example, when you develop a cavity, your dentist can remove the infected portions of a structure and fill the opening with a composite resin. If the infection has spread past a certain point, however, the restoration could fail and decay will continue to spread. Once all options have been exhausted, we can proceed with removal.

How It Impacts Your Daily Routine

Not only will you experience damage from infection, but your function will be impacted too. Oftentimes, deterioration reaches the inside of a tooth and causes damage to the inner pulp and nerves, resulting in sharp pain and difficulty with regular activities such as eating. If you feel that you have been affected in this way, do not hesitate to reach out to your dentist for an appointment.