Reasons for an Extraction

The #1 reason for an extraction is usually advanced Gum Disease. But we may also need to extract your tooth, if you have an abscessed tooth, if your tooth is very deeply decayed or if your tooth has broken the gum line. Fortunately, many advances in dentistry allow us to save your teeth, but sometimes an extraction is necessary. When an extraction is performed, it is important to put something in the place of the missing tooth or teeth. If the space is just left open, your teeth will shift and cause many unnecessary complications. An extracted tooth may be replaced by a bridge, an implant or by a denture.

Dentures
When most or all your natural teeth have been lost, dentures provide many benefits: They restore your self-esteem, regain your eating ability, aid speaking ability, give support back to the lips and cheeks - giving you a natural and younger appearance.

A Complete Denture is placed in the patient's mouth after all the teeth have been extracted and the gum tissue has healed. Healing of the gum tissue takes from a few weeks to a few months, depending upon the patient.

An Overdenture usually requires that at least 2 roots are kept. These roots are used to hold the denture in place by implementing inserts in the roots and in the denture. The denture then attaches to the roots. The roots give support to the denture;  they also retain the ridge the denture sits on.

An Implant-Retained Denture is similar to an Overdenture, but uses implants as anchors.

An Immediate Denture is placed the same day the teeth are extracted. The advantage to an Immediate Denture is that the patient does not have to be without teeth during the healing period.

A Partial Denture replaces one or more missing teeth. But there must be teeth remaining for the partial to attach to. Unlike a Fixed Bridge, a partial is removable. A partial will prevent other teeth from shifting, preserving your remaining teeth.