If your tooth is infected or sore, pulling seems to be a quick option, especially if you are in pain. But not too fast! Pulling that tooth might be an easy choice, but it’s not the best choice. Most people don’t realize the benefits of keeping your natural teeth. The choice to extract or keep the tooth is ultimately up to you, but make sure you know all the facts before making this big decision.
Benefits of Saving Your Tooth:
- Natural teeth are stronger: Natural teeth are stronger, move better than artificial teeth, and are easier to care for. While technology and materials are better than ever, artificial teeth still do not have the same strength as natural teeth.
- Avoid shifting of teeth: A tooth extraction creates a hole in your smile that allows the surrounding teeth to move. This shift takes time and can eventually cause communication and biting problems. These problems can create a domino effect of pain, poor nutrition, and reduced vitality.
- Maintain your youthful appearance: When teeth are pulled, the roots that support the jaw are also pulled. If there is a bone hole, the surrounding bone often collapses, making people look older than they are.
- No loss of confidence: If your smile shows a tooth extraction, the resulting hole can have a negative impact on your self-esteem. We often see patients lose their happy smiles because they are ashamed of their teeth.
- Not too much pain: After tooth extraction, most patients report several days of pain, especially if they develop a dry bed. If the tooth is left in place by a root canal, the pain will immediately respond as soon as the infection subsides and there is no time for the bed to dry.
How to Save a Tooth?
There are many good reasons to brush your natural teeth as much as possible. But decay and infection can make it a challenge and force you to decide whether to extract or save the tooth. The answer is usually a root canal, a procedure in which the inside of the tooth is cleaned and disinfected to remove the swollen or infected inner pulp.
Once the inside of the tooth is clean, the natural tooth is filled with a substance for strength and protected or restored with a crown so it functions like other teeth. Not only do you keep your natural teeth, a root canal eliminates pain and the healing time is short.
When to Have it Extracted?
While it is better to keep a tooth, there are times when a tooth is better. If the tooth is broken, especially if it is broken below the gum line or in multiple places, an extraction may be necessary. If the tooth is too weak to restore, it may also be best to extract it. If your dentist recommends removal, ask if the root canal can be removed. A discussion with your dentist is important to answer the question.
