Your Dentist May Recommend Tooth Removal Under These Circumstances

Posted on: 28 July 2017

As an adult dental patient, one thing you wouldn't want to hear your dentist say is that you'll need tooth extraction. Tooth extraction during adult age means loss of permanent teeth, which may subsequently mean adapting to life with dentures (the other option is to live with unsightly gaps in your mouth). This is a possibility that many adults don't usually want to come to terms with.

With that said, here's a breakdown of some likely circumstances when a dentist will determine you are a candidate for tooth extraction.

  • When you have overcrowded teeth. If there isn't enough space inside your mouth to accommodate all your permanent teeth, you will suffer from a form of malocclusion known as overcrowded teeth. Overcrowding of the teeth is caused by a mismatch between the size of your jaw and that of your teeth — your teeth might be too big for your jaw or vice versa (your jaw too small for your teeth). Overcrowded teeth is a serious aesthetic issue that may affect your ability to interact with others if left untreated. To relieve the overcrowding, your dentist may recommend removal of the extra teeth.
  • When you are suffering from severe tooth decay. Tooth decay is a dental problem that is common with young children, but it can plague adults as well. If your dentist examines you and finds that you are suffering from severe tooth decay, they might have to remove the affected tooth so as alleviate the pain and discomfort that it causes you. Tooth extraction is often necessary when the decay has reached the pulp of the affected tooth — tooth pulp is the soft tissue found in the internal structure of a tooth.
  • When your tooth is extensively fractured. There are many different situations that may leave you with a broken tooth. You could break a tooth when playing your favourite sports, when you slip and fall on a hard floor, when you get involved in a brawl, etc. If your dentist determines that the affected tooth is extensively broken and it can't be fixed with alternative treatment like dental crowns, the tooth may have to be completely removed and replaced with an artificial one.

It is important for all dental patients to understand that dentists will always recommend tooth extraction as a last resort. That means they will only recommend tooth extraction when there's nothing else they can do to save an affected tooth or if treatment of a patient's specific dental problem calls for complete removal of the tooth.

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