When teeth remain strong, healthy, and intact, they can last a lifetime. However, sometimes teeth are affected by decay or are damaged enough that it’s better to remove the tooth rather than attempt to repair it. Depending on the situation, tooth extraction can be a straightforward procedure, but sometimes it’s more complicated.
Why is Tooth Extraction Necessary?
Most people would rather not have to go through a tooth extraction; however, there are some cases where removing a tooth is a better prospect than repairing it.
If a tooth is very badly decayed or damaged, there may not be enough healthy tooth tissue for repair to be possible.
In cases of advanced periodontal disease, the jawbone beneath the damaged tooth may lack the density needed to provide proper support.
An impacted tooth must usually be surgically removed in order to prevent infection and other problems. An impacted tooth is one that is blocked from erupting fully above the gum line.
Why It's Important to Replace Missing Teeth
The loss of one or more teeth often affects your ability to bite or chew food. Depending on which teeth are missing, you may be forced to eliminate certain foods from your diet.
Another possible consequence of losing a tooth is that your speech may be affected. For instance, losing one of your top front teeth—the central incisors—can make it difficult to clearly pronounce TH, S, and F sounds.
In the long term, missing teeth can have a serious impact on oral health. One reason for this is that tooth loss leads to loss of density in the jawbone underlying the tooth gap, which weakens the jawbone.
Another issue is that the adjacent teeth gradually shift into the gap left by a missing tooth. This affects the stability of the neighboring teeth, and the jawbone too. As the teeth drift out of alignment it becomes harder to brush and floss effectively, which leads to an increased risk of gum disease and tooth decay.
Ways to Replace Missing Teeth after Extraction
After a tooth extraction, you have multiple options for replacement. Most people choose between dentures, a bridge, or dental implants. The right choice for any given situation depends on a lot of how many teeth you want to replace, your budget, and your own preferences.
A bridge is a short row of ceramic tooth restorations that replace one to three missing teeth. This is a non-surgical replacement option that provides a cost-effective solution for people who need only a few teeth replaced. The bridge is permanently fixed in place and is brushed and flossed just like natural teeth.
Dentures are a removable dental device that can replace anywhere from one tooth to a whole mouthful of teeth, offering a cost-effective way to replace as many missing teeth as needed. The restorations are typically made from acrylic resin and are fused to a base of acrylic-coated metal. Dentures are removed for cleaning, which involves brushing the teeth and then soaking the device overnight in a cleaning solution.
Dental implants are placed via a surgical procedure and offer a permanent solution to the problem of missing teeth. A dental implant is a surgical-grade metal post that is implanted into the jawbone. After the implant is placed and the mouth is healed, the implant serves as the anchor point for tooth restorations. Dental implants have a number of advantages over other kinds of tooth restoration. One of the most important is that because dental implants function almost exactly like natural teeth, they can prevent the long-term problems that accompany tooth loss. For instance, they prevent loss of jawbone density and preserve tooth alignment.
Don’t Delay in Replacing Missing Teeth
Missing teeth affect the appearance of your smile, but that doesn’t mean it’s only an aesthetic problem. Having missing teeth can lead to serious oral health problems, and a missing tooth should be replaced as soon as possible in order to prevent any problems occurring.