I was doing a tooth extraction and the buccal plate fractured. I went ahead and removed it, but now I’m wondering if I did the right thing. Can you advise?
Name Withheld
Dear Name Withheld,
I think it depends on what procedure your patient was planning on after the extraction. If no tooth replacement was going to be placed then it is no big deal that your removed the buccal plate. If, however, your patient was wanting a dental implants placed, then having that bone structure their was very important. In that case, it would have been better to do the best you could to separate the tooth from the bone.
If your patient was wanting a dental implant, you’ll need to suggest that they get some bone grafting done, otherwise it is very likely that the dental implant procedure will fail.
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