It may be quite unusual when a dentist advices you to remove your natural tooth. After all you were thinking that teeth are natural structures and you retain them till you die. Indeed quite true. But when things turn unusual and retaining your teeth might actually pose a health hazard, you are left with no options but to extract them.
Your dentist may advice tooth extraction under the following circumstances.
- Your tooth may have undergone somethingcalled extensive decay. It has become so fully damaged that it could not be salvaged and the dentist has given up on the tooth. Worse is the decay is so deep that when the tooth is retained it can pose threat to the other healthier teeth around.
- Gum diseases can be one of the reason. Here the tooth is mostly not damaged but it becomes lose beyond a point that it needs to be extracted.
- God forbid, there was a severe trauma to the face and the teeth (more often more than one teeth) are knocked out or damaged severely. Your dentist would do everything it takes to salvage the teeth. But if it is so out of place or has suffered extensive damage, your dentist may be left with no option but to extract them.
Tooth Extraction Procedures
Tooth extraction can be either a Simple Extraction or a Surgical Extraction based on the type of the teeth or how the teeth is positioned after an X-ray is taken. An X-ray can help the dentist ascertain of the tooth needs a simple extraction or a surgical extraction.
Simple Extraction – If tooth are visible on top of the gum layer, the dentist would easily remove them with the forceps. This process is called simple extraction. Often the Incisors and canine teeth removal is done using the simple extraction technique. The complexity of the molar and premolars makes them impossible to remove using this technique. However as we said earlier, an X-ray report gives the dentist a clear reason to decide which procedure to adopt.
Surgical Extraction – This technique is employed under the following conditions.
- If the tooth getting extracted is a wisdom tooth.
- If the root of the tooth is curved
- Tthe tooth has developed fracture that the extraction using a forecep can invariably break it and the extraction is incomplete,
- The morphology of the teeth is different and is not normal that it warrants surgical extraction.