Saving Your Own Natural Teeth
If a dentist has told you a tooth needs to come out, that may not be the final word. At our Midtown Manhattan periodontal practice, we evaluate teeth other offices have called hopeless and look for a way to rebuild the bone and gum support keeping them in place. Board-certified periodontist Dr. Scott Froum was named Best Periodontist in New York City by The City's Best for the third year in a row and sees patients from across NYC and the country who want a second opinion before losing a tooth.
Call 212-751-8530 or request an appointment to find out whether your tooth can still be saved.
A Tooth-Saving Plan Built Around Keeping What's Yours
Your natural teeth do more work than most patients realize. Teeth stimulate the jawbone that holds them in place, keep your bite stable, and protect the adjacent teeth next to them from drifting or taking on extra chewing force. When Dr. Froum can rebuild the support around a tooth instead of removing it, he protects that whole system rather than starting over with a replacement.
Depending on what your evaluation shows, your plan may combine:
Bone grafting, which replaces lost bone around a tooth so it has something solid to hold onto again.
Gum tissue grafting, which rebuilds gum coverage over exposed roots so the tooth is less sensitive and less likely to keep losing support.
Growth-factor therapy, using material such as platelet-derived growth factor drawn from your own blood and when combined with your bone or gum graft it can support faster, more complete healing.
Laser-assisted tissue regeneration, which reduces the bacteria and inflammation around an infected tooth while supporting the body's own healing response.
Splinting teeth, which stabilizes a loose tooth by anchoring it to its neighbors while the supporting bone and gum tissue heal.
Dr. Scott Froum discusses saving teeth with advanced technology using lasers to stimulate new bone growth.
When a "Hopeless" Tooth May Still Be Saved
"Hopeless" is a label that is given to a tooth based on what the dentist is familiar with, not always a final diagnosis. Advances in bone grafting, growth-factor therapy, and laser-assisted regeneration mean teeth once written off for advanced bone loss, infection, or mobility can sometimes be stabilized and kept. The earlier the disease is caught, the more options are usually on the table: early treatment can slow or stop periodontal disease, preserve more of the bone and gum tissue you already have, and often mean a less invasive plan than waiting until the tooth is loose or painful.
That said, preservation is not always the right call. When infection, fracture, or bone loss is too advanced, protecting your remaining teeth and planning a stable replacement, such as a dental implant therapy, is the safer long-term choice. Part of every evaluation Dr. Froum performs is about being honest with you into which category your tooth falls into.
What to Expect From Consultation to Long-Term Stability
Saving a tooth is rarely a single visit. Here is how we typically approach it:
1. Periodontal Consultation. We evaluate how much bone and gum support remains, review any imaging, and determine whether the tooth is a realistic candidate for preservation.
5. Early Recovery. Most procedures use local anesthesia, with sedation available if needed, and we schedule more frequent professional cleanings at first while the treated area heals.
3. Regenerative Treatment. Based on your evaluation, we perform the combination of bone grafting, gum grafting, growth-factor therapy, and/or laser-assisted regeneration that your treatment warrants.
2. Infection Control. If gum disease or infection is present, we treat it first so healing can begin on a clean foundation.
4. Stabilization. A loose tooth may be splinted to its neighbors so it can heal without further movement.
6. Long-Term Maintenance. Ongoing periodontal checkups and a home-care routine we build for you protect the bone and gum tissue that was rebuilt.
Can My Teeth Be Saved Before Extraction Is Considered?
In this short video, Dr. Scott Froum explains how his practice specializes in saving natural teeth using advanced regenerative techniques like bone grafting and soft tissue regeneration. If you've been advised that your tooth must be extracted, this video may offer a new perspective and a second chance to preserve your smile. Learn how our office helps patients keep their natural teeth, even in cases other dentists considered hopeless.
What Affects the Cost of Saving a Tooth
The cost of tooth-preservation treatment depends on your specific case, not a flat fee, because the right combination of care is different for every patient. The main factors are how much bone and gum tissue needs to be rebuilt, what kind of regeneration material is necessary, how many teeth are involved, what restorative work is necessary, and if root canal is needed. We provide a specific cost estimate once we have clinically evaluated your potential treatment, so you know what to expect before treatment begins.
Severe boneless around the four front teeth.
After teeth-saving treatment
Why NYC Patients Choose This Practice for Tooth Preservation
Dr. Scott Froum is a board-certified periodontist and implantologist licensed in New York State with license number 051440 and is based in Midtown Manhattan. In 2024, 2025, and 2026, he was named Best Periodontist in New York City by The City's Best for the third year in a row.
Rather than defaulting to tooth extraction and dental implant therapy, we build each treatment plan around combining bone grafting, gum grafting, and various growth-factor therapies with laser-assisted regeneration based on what you need. Patients throughout the country and Midtown Manhattan and the wider New York City area, including Roosevelt Island, Turtle Bay, Sutton Place, and the Lower East Side, come to this office for a second opinion before agreeing to an extraction.
Real Results From Real Patients
Saving Teeth Specialist in Midtown Manhattan
Dr. Scott Froum is a board-certified periodontist and implantologist NYC patients trust for saving natural teeth. His practice provides advanced tooth preservation NYC services to patients throughout Midtown Manhattan and the wider New York City area, including those seeking second opinions for infection-related tooth loss or severe bone loss.
As a recognized saving teeth specialist NYC, Dr. Froum provides personalized care focused on stability, function, and long-term oral health.
Frequently Asked Questions About Saving Your Natural Teeth
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Age itself is not a barrier to saving a tooth. Certain health conditions or medications can affect healing, but chronological age alone does not determine whether a tooth or the surrounding bone and gum tissue can heal. A periodontal evaluation is the only way to know for certain.
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In many cases, yes. If the infection driving the bone loss can be controlled and enough healthy tooth structure remains, bone grafting, gum grafting, and growth-factor therapy can rebuild lost support. A periodontal evaluation determines how much bone and gum tissue remain and whether that is enough to work with.
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Often, depending on how far the decay has spread. If decay has reached the nerve, root canal therapy combined with a crown can frequently save the tooth. If too much of the tooth or its bone support is gone, extraction may become the more realistic option, which is why an in-person evaluation matters more than guessing from symptoms alone.
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No. A 2019 comparative study found that dental implants fail at a rate 10 times that of natural teeth that were periodontally treated even though they had advanced bone loss. Which option is better for you depends on how much bone and gum support your tooth has left, and that is best assessed in person rather than assumed either way.
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When a tooth cannot be preserved, care shifts to protecting the surrounding teeth and bone and planning a stable replacement, such as a dental implant, bridge, or denture. That conversation only happens after Dr. Froum has confirmed that preservation genuinely is not realistic for that tooth.
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Treatment is usually completed in stages rather than a single visit, and the timeline depends on the severity of the bone or gum loss, how you heal, and whether follow-up monitoring is needed before the next step. Dr. Froum creates a realistic timeline for your specific case at your evaluation.
More Ways We Help Protect Your Smile
If bone loss is the main issue, bone grafting rebuilds the support your tooth needs to stay in place. When gum recession or exposed roots are part of the picture, gum grafting protects the roots and helps stabilize the tooth. If your evaluation shows a tooth genuinely cannot be saved, dental implants are the replacement option we recommend most often.
If you are concerned about a loose tooth, bone loss, or a dentist's recommendation to extract, call 212-751-8530 or request an appointment to schedule an evaluation with Dr. Froum at our Midtown Manhattan office, 1110 2nd Ave Ste 305, New York, NY 10022.
Contact Dr. Scott Froum
If you are concerned about gum health, bone loss, infection, or whether your teeth can be saved, a specialist evaluation can help clarify your options.
Contact our Midtown Manhattan office today to schedule your appointment with Dr. Scott Froum, a leading implantologist and periodontist in NYC.