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No dentist wants to extract a tooth. The goal is always to do as much as possible to save a natural tooth if it is damaged or infected. But some teeth simply must be pulled to preserve your oral health, including impacted wisdom teeth, and some fall in the category of same-day teeth extraction.
1. Extreme Damage
If a tooth is severely damaged – through, for example, a car accident, a sporting injury, or a blow to the mouth – it may not be salvageable. Severe injury, chipping, breakage, or other damage is not always correctable.
In some situations, neighboring teeth would suffer if your dentist tried to save the problem tooth, especially if the damage it has suffered is not from a hit but from excess decay. Tooth decay is typically treatable, but significant decay that cannot be repaired with a tooth-colored filling, root canal, or porcelain crown, leads to an inevitable same-day tooth extraction.
2. Gum Disease
Gum disease starts small, as gingivitis, but if this condition is not caught and treatment, the prolonged gum inflammation will only get worse and eventually turn into periodontitis. This chronic attack on the gums weakens the support structures of the teeth, causing the gums to pull away from the teeth, leave pockets for pus to gather, and leaving the roots exposed.
Teeth become loose in the gums and may fall out on their own, but if they’re so compromised that there is no chance of them staying in place and the disease has progressed so dramatically, a same-day tooth extraction is often necessary so the gums can be thoroughly treated.
3. Impacted Wisdom Tooth
For many people, wisdom teeth are extracted before they have the chance to cause problems. Some folks, though, opt not to have these third molars removed and, eventually, they erupt, become impacted or partially impacted, and cause major pain and problems.
The jaw simply doesn’t have enough room to accommodate wisdom teeth, which means they get stuck when they try to erupt or push other teeth out of the way. This can negatively impact alignment, which is a serious problem if you’ve already undergone orthodontic treatment. Impacted teeth are also more prone to infections and gum inflammation and definitely cause pain.
4. Under-the-Gum Infection or Fracture
Your tooth may look just fine above the surface, but what’s going on underneath could be a different story. If you have severe pain, your dentist may discover that your tooth is fractured below the gum. In some cases, root canal therapy can be done to correct the problem and the treated tooth can be capped with a porcelain crown. Unfortunately, there are circumstances where the tooth is so compromised that it cannot be saved even with these effective treatments. Extraction is inevitable.
Save Your Natural Teeth
The more natural teeth you have, the stronger your oral health will be. Sometimes, however, same-day teeth extraction is necessary, and you want to know that you can count on your Healdsburg family dentist to get the job done at a moment’s notice. If you suspect that you have a dental emergency or worry that you might need an extraction, contact Healdsburg Dental Spa for an appointment.
