Have you been told that you might need to get a tooth or some teeth extracted? Are you wondering why you need to get a tooth extracted? There are a few reasons as to why your dentist might want to extract your tooth. Continue reading this post to find out about tooth extractions and all that they entail. 

What is a tooth extraction? 

When the tooth needs to be removed from the socket in your bone, this is what is called a tooth extraction.

Why do you need to get a tooth extraction?

The most common reason that a tooth might need to be extracted is due to the fact that the tooth might be damaged from either a tooth decay or a severely injured tooth. There are other reasons in which your dentist may need to extract a tooth. Please continue reading further to find out more reasons why.

Tooth Crowding – If your teeth need to be aligned, then sometimes a tooth may need to get pulled out. Also, if your tooth isn’t able to come through out of your gum due to lack of space in your mouth then it might call for another reason in which you’ll need to have your tooth removed. 

Infection – Having a decaying tooth or some type of damage to a tooth that reaches to the center of your tooth (the part that contains the blood vessels and nerves) then you might need to get a tooth extracted. When the tooth is damaged, sometimes bacteria in the mouth can reach the center of your tooth which can then lead to an infection. When this happens, then your dentist might try and clean up the area using root canal therapy. If the infection is more complex and the root canal therapy and/or antibiotics doesn’t help then the tooth may need to extracted so that the infection doesn’t spread.

Risk of Infection – When your dentist checks your teeth he will examine them to make sure that they’re healthy and strong. If they notice that a tooth or a couple teeth might be at risk of an infection they may want to extract the tooth so that a more problematic infection doesn’t occur or spread to other teeth in the mouth. Also, if your immune system is weak because of having gone for an organ transplant or from radiation due to chemotherapy, the medications can cause problems for your teeth.

Wisdom Teeth – Many times wisdom teeth need to be extracted because they begin to decay or cause pain or infections. At times wisdom teeth might get lodged into your gum and will have trouble coming through and growing, which then causes your gum to begin swelling or get irritated. If this happens then getting a tooth extraction is critical.

Hopefully after reading this post you have a better understanding as to why tooth extractions occur. Should you have further questions or concerns please speak with your dentist. Be on the lookout for another blog post which will provide more information about tooth extractions.