“At what point can a tooth not be saved?”

It depends upon the amount of bone left around the tooth.

A tooth can no longer be saved once the destruction of the tooth has reached the point that no matter what procedures are proposed, that the end result will still be a failure. The word failure means that the tooth will either fracture, fall out, not be usable for chewing, etc. The dentist must determine in advance, if possible, whether any proposed treatment will result in a predictable and successful outcome. I cannot go into what exact conditions constitute a tooth to be deemed nonrestorable, but my advice is to seek a second opinion if one dentist said that a specific tooth cannot be saved. This is especially true if you feel otherwise, or uncertain or uncomfortable of his/her diagnosis. Sometimes a tooth MAY be able to be saved, but the circumstances around saving it might not be predictable enough for the dentist to proceed without informing you of the potential failure that lies ahead, and your possible loss of the monies used to pay for those procedures if the end result is removal of the tooth even after the attempted procedures to save the tooth.
Good luck with your dental situation. But another word regarding the removal or extraction of a tooth: In our office, that is the last option usually recommended unless there exists absolutely no other option. Be wary if someone tells you that extracting the tooth is no big deal, because we can easily place an implant to restore the area. On that note, I'll leave you and hope that this explanation was helpful to you.

Mitchell Karl

There are many points at which a tooth is not salvageable. There could be a fracture in the tooth, there could be decay or cavity down to level the bone, there could be bone loss from periodontal disease, the tooth could be extremely loose and no longer usable to support function, there could be pain with a tooth and a root canal may or may not save it. Please check with your dentist to determine if these are the factors that are causing you to lose a tooth.

If there is extensive decay that has weakened the tooth structure too much or is all the way down to the bone or the bone supporting the tooth as deteriorated to the point that there is not enough support anymore.