Dental implants are a great replacement option for a lost tooth, but they’re still not as good as your natural teeth. However, in some situations, it may be recommended that you pull your natural tooth and have it replaced with a dental implant. This is a hard decision: once your tooth is gone, it can never be put back, so it’s important to make sure that when you make this decision, you’re making the right one.
When to Keep Your Tooth
Most of the time, you will probably want to keep your tooth whenever possible. Here are some things to keep in mind:- A broken tooth can regain much of its lost strength with the aid of a dental crown
- Endodontic therapy (root canal) can have a success rate of more than 90%
- Either treatment can allow you to get ten years or more out of a heavily damaged or infected tooth
When to Get Rid of a Tooth
In some situations, it’s necessary to get rid of your natural tooth and replace it with a dental implant. These situations include:- When there’s little natural tooth crown left to support an artificial crown
- You have already had a failed root canal
- Your tooth poses a threat to nearby bone mass