If teeth cannot be saved due to severe damage, or if there is insufficient space for them in a patient’s jaw, professional tooth extraction is often necessary. However, before we recommend a tooth extraction, we generally first explore all available options for saving the tooth.
When is a tooth extraction advisable?
Depending on the structure of an individual’s dentition, there can be various reasons for the extraction of a tooth (or multiple teeth):
From a dental perspective, tooth extraction may be advisable or necessary, for example, when tooth structure has been irreversibly damaged by tooth decay or external mechanical forces. In addition, conditions such as chronic inflammatory processes affecting the dental nerve and involving the jawbone can make tooth extraction unavoidable—if such a procedure is not performed, there is a risk, for example, that areas of inflammation will spread throughout the dentition and jaw, leading to health complications.
And tooth extraction can be an important procedure not only when a tooth itself is severely damaged—significant impairment of the periodontium, such as that occurring in advanced periodontitis (gum disease), can also lead us to recommend tooth extraction. In various cases, existing jaw cysts (fluid-filled cavities in the jaw that can be caused by individual teeth) may also necessitate tooth extraction.
In addition to dental reasons, orthodontic necessities may also underlie the decision to extract a tooth. For example, if a patient’s jaw is too small to accommodate all teeth without risks such as misalignment, tooth extraction is often recommended. This situation arises primarily in connection with wisdom teeth that are developing or have already erupted into the oral cavity.
Even when a tooth shifts to such an extent that this displacement cannot be adequately corrected through tooth-preserving measures, tooth extraction is often the best solution.
The Tooth Extraction Process
Before we recommend a tooth extraction, we always conduct a comprehensive assessment of your oral health and your specific concerns. Based on this assessment, we’ll discuss possible treatment options with you and then decide together on the next steps.
If we jointly decide with you to proceed with a tooth extraction, local anesthesia is usually sufficient for the procedure. However, if you prefer additional anesthetic and/or sedative measures for personal reasons, or if a very extensive procedure is necessary, we also offer analgosedation or general anesthesia.
We then perform the actual tooth extraction by gently loosening the affected tooth and lifting it out of its bony socket. If inflammatory processes in the extracted tooth have already caused damage to the tooth socket, we stabilize the affected bone tissue in a subsequent step. Depending on the reason for the tooth extraction and your specific needs, we will provide you with a temporary dental restoration at the same time. In the aesthetic or visible area of the mouth, we always provide the patient with a temporary solution immediately after a tooth extraction so that no one can see that a tooth is missing. After thorough disinfection, the resulting wound typically heals over the course of the following 4 weeks.
We would be happy to provide you with information about a personalized tooth extraction at our practice.
Dental Restorations Following a Tooth Extraction
In general, there are four solutions for restoring a single missing tooth or multiple missing teeth. In some cases, such as after wisdom tooth extraction, no dental restoration is needed. A distinction is also made between removable and fixed dental restorations.
If, for example, all teeth in one jaw need to be extracted, they are temporarily replaced with a removable denture; after a healing period of approximately 2 months, such a situation can then be restored with a fixed solution using dental implants. If only a single tooth needs to be extracted, this single-tooth gap is restored with a fixed dental implant. However, if adjacent teeth are damaged, a conventional bridge solution is recommended.
Ultimately, though, you decide what the best solution is for you. We would be happy to explain the time and financial costs involved in your dental restoration during a personal consultation, taking your specific clinical situation into account. Please feel free to contact us.