A patient was referred to our office from another general dentist office to extract a tooth.

The patient was in pain.  The x-ray appeared to show severe bone loss.  Her dentist diagnosed the tooth as unrestorable and needed removal but he didn’t feel comfortable to do the surgery.

After reviewing the patient’s dental history and examining the tooth, my diagnosis was clear.  The tooth had been infected for 3 months.  That amount of bone loss in that short time was unlikely.  The tooth was not mobile considering the amount of assumed bone loss.

After re-examining with a new digital x-ray, the diagnosis was clear that the bone tissue was actually present and the tooth could be treated and saved.

I successfully treated the tooth with root canal therapy.  The tooth was saved.  The patient was able to avoid extraction surgery and future surgical placement of a dental implant to restore her mouth.