Guides

Save or Extract

Whether a tooth can be saved is decided by the root and the bone around it, not by how much it hurts.

Save or Extract

Failed Root Canal Treatment: What Are Your Options?Why root canal treatment fails, whether the tooth can still be saved, and when extraction and an implant come into it. The three options compared, and the criteria for deciding.
Save the Tooth, or Extract It and Have an Implant?Try to save the tooth, or extract it and have an implant? The six criteria behind the decision, the difference between savable and worth saving, and the cost of putting it off.
How Long Should You Wait for an Implant After an Extraction?In the same session, a few weeks later or months later. The three timings, when each one is chosen and what waiting does to the bone.
My Gum Disease Has Advanced: Will I Lose My Teeth?The difference between gingivitis and periodontitis, how pocket depth and bone loss decide which teeth will stay, where treatment stops the disease and what happens with an implant plan.
My Tooth Has Broken: Can It Be Saved, or Does It Need to Come Out?Where the break is decides the outcome: a break in the enamel is repaired with a filling, while a break that goes below the gum or a vertical root fracture means extraction. How should you keep the broken piece?
Decay Under a Bridge or a Loose Bridge: What Can Be Done?When a bridge is loose or smells bad, the problem is usually the supporting tooth: has the cement worn away, is there decay under the crown, or is it bone loss? How to tell them apart, and the options.
My Tooth Is Loose: Can It Be Saved, or Does It Need to Come Out?Why a tooth becomes loose, when it can be saved, what splinting and gum treatment do, and when extraction is the right decision. The criteria for deciding and your options.
Told All Your Teeth Need to Come Out: What Happens Now?The questions to ask after hearing these words, how to tell whether the decision is really right, and how your mouth should be planned after the extractions.