Any chance of saving this tooth?

[LifeIsHard]

My dentist says it has to come out but I'd like a second opinion. Thing is dentists seem to have been saying similar things about this tooth for years and yet it's still going with no pain at all. Any chance of filling it and it holding on?

If I have to go for an extraction, do you think I should go to a specialist or would my regular dentist be about as skilled? I think my regular dentist is a good one and I've experienced some bad dentists in the past. Will this be an easy extraction or difficult? I've never had any impacted teeth.

Also what is the time frame I should try and get it done in? When it was stated maybe I should get rid of it before or it might be a harder extraction in the end, I didn't think much of it... I thought who cares if the process is a little longer or more complicated compared to losing a tooth. I never realized I'd be taking on the risk of damaging the nerve, paresthesia, and other horrible complications that might be long-term.

 

[LifeIsHard]

Another thing is that if I go in as a non-return patient, I am a random person in a big city to the oral surgeon, not someone familiar and local. It seems like since I'm a continual "returning customer" my current dentist would have more incentive to make sure it's done right. So from all of these things, it makes sense to me that my current dentist might be more careful, but if that's more than offset by the extra experience of an oral surgeon maybe I am better off with the latter? Cost may also be a factor, I don't know if an oral surgeon would be more expensive or not.

 

[Busybee]

complex extractions are best done by an expert but get a second opinion if you have no symptoms.

 

[KVMCruces]

I agree with Busybee, there are plenty of specialists that offer free consultations so if I were you I'd get a second opinion.

 

[joss]

You never said why it has to be extracted.

If there's no pain, what is the problem?

 

[MattKW]

It's a wisdom tooth with a huge cavity. To fix it, at the very least you'd need an RCT and a crown. It's not worth it, but it's your choice. I would refuse to do it if you asked me as I don't think I would be judged well by the licensing Board if something went wrong. I give patients options based on sensible dentistry and they pick, not the other way around.
Once you were numbed, that would be out in <1min. Of course, you can wait for it to break and give pain at an inconvenient time - like Xmas is coming up!

 

[LifeIsHard]

You never said why it has to be extracted.

If there's no pain, what is the problem?

joss, you have bumped a very old thread. I had this tooth out months ago!

As MattKW said I could wait for it to break and give pain at an inconvenient time. Another thing is that the longer you leave it, the worse the extraction is likely to be as the tooth can go down very close to the nerve.

When getting it out, the oral surgeon asked me what tooth was bothering me and he seemed surprised when I said none were and there was no pain at all. I'm a real advocate of "if it's not broken don't fix it", in particular with medicine due to some experiences I've had in the past. I prefer to take a natural route - even though the natural route may end up bad sometimes the medical route may end up worse and there's a philosophical element to it as well - how do animals deal with it in the wild and why they seem to rarely or never get such maladies is a major question. However I think I can safely say that this time it was warranted and worth it, not much point leaving it in.

It's a wisdom tooth with a huge cavity. To fix it, at the very least you'd need an RCT and a crown. It's not worth it, but it's your choice. I would refuse to do it if you asked me as I don't think I would be judged well by the licensing Board if something went wrong. I give patients options based on sensible dentistry and they pick, not the other way around.
Once you were numbed, that would be out in <1min. Of course, you can wait for it to break and give pain at an inconvenient time - like Xmas is coming up!

You were right, it came out in maybe 20 seconds. I was waiting for him to just get started and start pulling proper and he told me it was out! I think part of what gave me such anxiety was I had a really bad experience with the other tooth that I had out... I vividly remember the dentist going back and forth for what seemed like an eternity. This led me to be really scared about getting this one out, and also fears of nerve damage, paralysis, drooling as you can read about online, but it went fine.

I guess Life is Fine at least regarding the dentist for now!