Despite regular brushing and flossing, tooth decay, gum disease, and tooth disease can still show up. While keeping a schedule of visits to your dentist for a routine dental checkup and having your teeth cleaned by a professional can catch many problems before they grow, sometimes a tooth cannot be saved by normal measures and a tooth extraction is necessary.
When a toothache appears, it’s often a sign that the tooth’s nerve is under attack by bacteria or tooth decay. A quick visit to a dentist can often repair and save the tooth by fixing the cavity with a porcelain filling or one made of metal or a metal alloy. Sometimes, however, the tooth disease or gum disease has progressed too far for even our excellent dentists to fix, and the tooth needs to be removed.
The caring and gentle treatment we give our patients is certainly appreciated by them if this is the case. We will do everything we can to reduce your stress and anxiety so that your tooth removal is as quick and simple as possible. Since much of the pain associated with tooth loss may come from the work done by the dentist during the removal and not the missing tooth at all, our dentists take special care not to irritate the gum and bone any more than is absolutely necessary.
After the tooth has been removed, it’s necessary to replace the gap it creates with dental bridge work or a dental implant. Not only does this permit normal eating, chewing, and smiling, it eliminates an ugly gap into which the other teeth will drift. This movement of teeth can create spaces that can harbor bacteria, trap food, and lead to additional cavities and gum disease.