Dentistry has come a long way, and we'll use all the technology at our disposal to save your natural teeth. But unfortunately, some situations exist where teeth have been so badly damaged by decay that our only option is to remove them.
The roots of your teeth extend down into your jawbone. A restoration called a crown is often used to cover, protect and restore a tooth that's been damaged by decay. The crown fits over the part of the tooth that's above the bone; this means there needs to be an adequate amount of healthy tooth structure above the gums for us to attach the crown.
However, if half of your tooth or more has been damaged by decay, we reach a point when there just isn't enough tooth structure left for us to restore your tooth with a crown. If this is the case, we have no choice but to remove what remains of the tooth.