Should It Stay Or Should It Go?

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”

By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield

Should It Stay Or Should It Go?

Hello again, I hope that you are well. Well, it was my 20th wedding anniversary the other week. Time really flies. Mrs B has done well putting up with me for that long, she deserves a medal!

Inspiration From The Radio

I was listening to the radio, radio 2 in fact, and they played “should `I stay or should I go“ by the Clash. That was it, my inspiration for writing this month. When is it time to lose a tooth rather than try and save it? There are many factors to making this decision and it’s not just the dentist’s decision in some cases.

Is the tooth painful? Is it a straightforward procedure to save it or is it tricky, very technical and time consuming? It is a useful tooth or redundant so you won’t miss it? Can you see it or not? The decision whether to remove or not is based on these questions but also people have different philosophies, attitudes, wants and needs so not everybody will want the same thing in similar situations. Everyone is an individual so us dental lot need to listen.

All Cracked Up And Decision Made

There is one situation when the decision sorts itself out there and then. This is when there a vertical fracture of the root. This is one of the most common reasons that I place implants, to replace a fractured root that had a post in it.

Teeth with cracks can be saved with a covering like an onlay or crown that wraps around to protect and hold it together but once the crack has gone down the root and under the bone it’s had it.

It’s a bit mad but I’ve seen loads recently. It’s most common with teeth that had a lot done to them but you can see it virgin teeth that have not been touched.

It´s such a shame but this one has had it.

 It could be a hard seed or an olive stone. It tends to be people with a deep, heavy bite. It’s that heart sinking moment when you see one half of the tooth moving and the other half not.

A Couple Of Beauties Here

In situations like these, unfortunately, there is only one thing to do and that’s remove. 

Doing so as early as possible means that there is more chance of a successful replacement especially with an implant.

I’m missing the first Hull City home game as I’m off to Cornwall with the family in the caravan. 

Hope it’s a good start to the season.

Until next time.   Take care and be good.