Is Saving Your Tooth Better Than Pulling It? How Dentists Make the Decision

Saving your tooth or extracting it: how a dentist decides.

If you had the choice, would you keep your natural tooth and do whatever you can to save it, or would you tell your dentist to pull it? Chances are that if you are like most people, you’d tell your dentist to, by all means, keep your tooth. And the reality is that’s what your dentist wants for you, too. But sometimes, tooth extraction is the better choice.

At Berrien Dental in St. Joseph, Michigan, we take the extra step to help our patients care for their teeth in the best way possible. So if you are experiencing tooth pain or think you might need tooth extraction, this article is for you.

Why Saving Your Tooth Is Often the First Choice

Just because we can pull your tooth doesn’t mean that’s what we want to do. Your natural teeth were designed to last a lifetime, and no replacement works quite as well as the original.

Keeping your natural tooth comes with several benefits:

• Normal chewing and bite alignment. When every tooth stays in place, your bite stays balanced, and you can chew comfortably.
• A healthy jawbone. The gentle pressure of biting and chewing keeps the bone beneath your teeth strong and full.
• Support for the surrounding teeth. Each tooth helps hold its neighbors in position.
• Simpler care. Saving a tooth is often less involved and less costly than replacing one later.

When a Dental Crown May Be Enough

If your tooth has severe tooth decay or a crack or a chip, it’s possible that a dental crown can help prevent extraction.

Here’s how it works. Doctors Christy, Balsis, and Bauman will remove all the active decay, then place a custom cover over the remaining tooth. That cover, called a crown, envelops the tooth completely, protecting the weakened structure underneath while restoring its strength, shape, and function.

Dental crowns are great for:

• Large cavities too big for a filling
• Cracked or weakened teeth
• Teeth that have undergone root canal treatment

When We Might Suggest Removing Your Tooth 

Though we will do everything we can to help save your tooth, sometimes tooth removal is the best course of action. When a tooth is too damaged to repair, holding onto it can put your health at risk, allowing pain and infection to spread to nearby teeth, your gums, and even your jawbone.

We may recommend extraction in cases of:

• Severe fractures below the gumline
• Extensive tooth decay that leaves too little healthy structure
• Advanced periodontal disease
• Infection that cannot be treated successfully

In these situations, removing the tooth relieves pain and protects the rest of your smile.

What happens after a tooth is extracted?

Sometimes, patients assume that if we pull a tooth, we’ll just leave a gap. But that’s not the case. If we decide that tooth extraction is the best course of action, our team at Berrien Dental in St. Joseph, Michigan will talk to you about your tooth replacement options. If we don’t fill that space, your adjacent teeth may start to shift, and this can cause other issues for you down the road.

When a tooth goes missing, the neighboring teeth slowly drift toward the empty space. This can throw off your bite, make chewing far more challenging than it should be, and create spots that are harder to clean, raising your risk of decay and gum disease. The jawbone beneath the missing tooth also begins to shrink without the stimulation of chewing.

To prevent these problems, we may suggest one of the following replacement options:

• Dental bridge: uses the teeth on either side of the gap to hold a replacement tooth in place
• Partial denture: a removable appliance that fills in missing teeth
• Dental implant: a permanent replacement that looks, feels, and works like a natural tooth

Could a dental implant be the right solution?

The dental implant market has grown a lot in recent years. In fact, some of the latest data suggests that the market will reach $11.0 billion by 2033. And no, this isn’t because dentists are pushing dental implants on their patients. The reality is that getting dental implants is a big decision, and it comes with a big investment.

That said, dental implants are hands down the gold standard when it comes to tooth replacement. This is because an implant replaces the entire tooth, not just the part you can see. A small titanium post is placed in the jawbone, where it bonds with the bone and serves as a sturdy anchor for a custom crown. Because the post stimulates the jawbone the way a natural tooth does, it helps prevent bone loss. An implant also stays firmly in place, needs no special care beyond daily brushing and flossing, and can last for decades.

How Your Dentist Determines the Best Treatment

When the decision is made to pull a tooth, we think through what should happen next. But we don’t just come up with a random suggestion and toss it your way. Instead, our team in St. Joseph, Michigan completes a meticulous, thorough evaluation, including digital X-rays and imaging, so we can better understand your tooth’s condition and what is going on with the surrounding teeth, the bones supporting your teeth, and your gums.

All of this helps us determine the best path forward. And this means having a discussion about your options. During that conversation, we’ll take the time to discuss your goals and preferences.

At Berrien Dental, Saving Your Tooth Is Our Priority 

Ultimately, we’ll do what we can to help save your tooth. And if it can’t be saved, then we’ll discuss tooth extraction and what comes next, whether it’s a dental bridge or a dental implant. So, if you are concerned about tooth loss and your options, we encourage you to schedule a consultation so that we can assess your unique situation and discuss your options.

Schedule an appointment today and learn about our approach to restorative dentistry at Berrien Dental.