Reasons
The most common reason for extraction is tooth damage due to breakage or decay. There are additional reasons for tooth extraction:
- Severe tooth decay or infection (acute or chronic alveolar abscess). Despite the reduction in worldwide prevalence of dental caries, still it is the most common reason for extraction of (non-third molar) teeth with up to two thirds of extractions.
- Extra teeth which are blocking other teeth from coming in.
- Severe gum disease which may affect the supporting tissues and bone structures of teeth.
- In preparation for orthodontic treatment (braces)
- Teeth in the fracture line
- Teeth which cannot be restored endodontically
- Fractured teeth
- Supenumerary, supplementary or malformed teeth
- Prosthetics; teeth detrimental to the fit or appearance of dentures
- Insufficient space for wisdom teeth (impacted third molars). Although many dentists remove asymptomatic impacted third molars, American as well as British Health Authorities recommended against this routine procedure, unless there are evidences for disease in the impacted tooth or the near environment. The American Public Health Association, for example, adopted a policy, Opposition to Prophylactic Removal of Third Molars (Wisdom Teeth) because of the large number of injuries resulting from unnecessary extractions.
- Cosmetic; teeth of poor appearance, unsuitable for restoration
- Receiving radiation to the head and neck may require extraction of teeth in the field of radiation.
- Deliberate, medically unnecessary, extraction as a particularly dreadful form of physical torture.
- It was once a common practice to remove the front teeth of institutionalized psychiatric patients who had a history of biting.
- Reduced cost compared to other treatments
Read more about this topic: Dental Extraction
Famous quotes containing the word reasons:
“From things that have happened and from things as they exist and from all things that you know and all those you cannot know, you make something through your invention that is not a representation but a whole new thing truer than anything true and alive, and you make it alive, and if you make it well enough, you give it immortality. That is why you write and for no other reason that you know of. But what about all the reasons that no one knows?”
—Ernest Hemingway (18991961)
“Youth does not require reasons for living, it only needs pretexts.”
—José Ortega Y Gasset (18831955)
“She has problems with separation; he has trouble with unityproblems that make themselves felt in our relationships with our children just as they do in our relations with each other. She pulls for connection; he pushes for separateness. She tends to feel shut out; he tends to feel overwhelmed and intruded upon. Its one of the reasons why she turns so eagerly to childrenespecially when theyre very young.”
—Lillian Breslow Rubin (20th century)