Your gums are bleeding, you have a severe toothache, and your teeth sensitivity makes eating and drinking hard. The longer an abscess or toothache lingers, the more discomfort you’ll have to endure.
You may feel so much pain that you want it to stop, but OTC pain meds just mask the symptoms – finding good, affordable Honolulu dental services is the only solution. The dentist will advise you on the status of the tooth, and the cause of the decay, which will determine if you are saving or pulling the tooth. Read to learn which is best: pulling your tooth or saving it.
Benefits of Tooth Saving
Tooth saving is a treatment option that can help you avoid going through the trauma of losing one or more of your teeth. When you lose a tooth, it can affect your ability to eat properly and speak clearly.
- It saves money: Fixing a cracked tooth will cost less than removing and replacing it with a dental implant or bridge made of porcelain or ceramic.
- You’ll have a better smile since natural teeth look better than artificial ones: A smile can help you feel more confident and make a good impression on others. It can also improve your health by lowering stress levels and boosting self-esteem.
- Natural teeth last longer than artificial ones: Natural teeth do not require maintenance other than regular brushing and flossing. In contrast, artificial teeth need to be fitted by a dentist and may need replacement once every few years.
- Maintains youthful appearance: The face ages quickly when teeth are missing. With a full smile, you maintain a youthful appearance that helps you feel good about yourself.
- Shorter treatment time: Restorations using porcelain crowns or porcelain fused to metal crowns (PFM) is less invasive than implants and require fewer visits for completion.
- No teeth shifting: Tooth loss causes teeth to shift their position to fill in for missing teeth. It leads to problems with chewing and even cause jaw pain. With tooth saving, you will maintain your natural bite and avoid this issue.
- Maintains confidence: When there are gaps between your teeth or issues with your smile, it makes you less confident. Tooth saving helps keep those gaps closed and preserves your natural bite so you can feel more comfortable interacting with others.
- It prevents bone loss: If you are missing one or more teeth, it may lead to bone loss and changes in facial structure. By maintaining the teeth, you can prevent this from happening.
- Preserves facial structure: Without teeth, your face will look older and tired because of sagging skin and fat around your cheeks and mouth. Replacing missing teeth helps keep your face looking younger because it retains a youthful appearance.
- Natural teeth will not hurt your mouth as much as artificial ones: Artificial teeth tend to fit poorly into the mouth and irritate the gums around them. Natural teeth fit better into the mouth because they match the shape of natural tooth roots and jawbone sockets. They also have no sharp edges that could cut into soft tissue in your mouth if they were loose or moved out of place.
When Is Tooth Extraction Necessary?
There are several reasons why a dentist might recommend extracting a tooth:
- Tooth impaction: impacted teeth cannot erupt into their proper place because of surrounding tissue. This condition is in children who have not yet erupted all of their baby teeth. An impacted tooth causes discomfort or pain for your child.
- Damage of the pulp (nerve): It is when the inside of the tooth by decay or trauma cannot get repaired using root canal therapy. This condition often occurs in older adults with poor dental care, such as failing to brush or floss and consuming sugary foods regularly.
- Tooth lacks structural integrity: The tooth lacks sufficient structural integrity to hold itself without breaking off at the gum line; it occurs when people grind their teeth at night.
- Tooth crowding: If your teeth are crowded and preventing other teeth from coming in, your dentist may recommend removing a tooth to make room for the others. It also improves your bite and jaw alignment.
- Damage to the jawbone: If there is damage to your jawbone by injury or disease, your dentist may recommend extraction as a treatment option. The space created will allow nearby teeth to move into their proper positions and help maintain the health of the remaining teeth.
While pulling your tooth may be best for preventing infection and saving your pearly whites, sometimes you can save it. The decision ultimately comes down to the dentist as to whether or not they feel it is worth attempting to save the tooth.
