A patient presents with a tooth damaged by disease or injury, and it now becomes your decision whether to perform a restoration or an extraction; it’s a common situation up and down the world of dentistry.
Making this decision is not always a straightforward process, and many clinical factors must be weighed while avoiding, but not ignoring, how the patient will be emotionally affected by the aesthetics of the tooth after treatment.
Among the primary items of the clinical decision making are the structural, periodontal, endodontic conditions; the amount of tooth structure required to repair the tooth and what options remain if sufficient structure is not present.
These are factors that are solely within the purview of the dental practitioner.
Non-clinical items for serious consideration include such item as the aesthetic consequences of retaining or removing a tooth; the patient’s expectations, their financial or insurance resources and even their expected level of compliance with your after-treatment care instructions.
These factors will vary from patient to patient, and this is where your communication skills will play a major role in the outcome.
We’ve presented a very simplistic look at the extract vs. restore equation, and we’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject. You can leave a comment here, or find us on our social media outlets:
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