The dentist obviously saw evidence of periodontal disease, which is apparently why your tooth fell out. And yes, if you don't want the rest of your teeth to fall out, now is the time to start major periodontal treatment to save the rest of your teeth. If he went straight to the procedure to cut open your gums instead of just suggesting root planing, then your teeth/gums/bones are already on borrowed time.
Here's how it will go if you don't do this. You will have repeated gum infections, usually with abcess. You will begin to lose teeth one or two at a time, or have to have them extracted because of yet another infection. Your few good teeth and the parts of your jawbone that are as yet unaffected will eventually be overwhelmed by the disease. You will end up with a progression of bridges, and if the disease destroys your bone you won't be a good candidate for implants. You will eventually end up toothless or with a full set of dentures. And let's throw in the new information kicker to really raise the stakes. There is strong evidence that advanced periodontal disease contributes significantly to cardiovascular disease.
Are you scared yet? You should be. Do what the dentist says, never miss another cleaning, set out an entire treatment plan with a good periodontist, and don't make the mistake of thinking that money is more important than your teeth.
It is too late for me, because I had a rare form of juvenile periodontal disease that had taken hold by the time I decided to do something about it. I did everything right from that point on, but about 10 years too late. I now have 15 of my own teeth left. I would have NO teeth left if I had not had the periodontal surgery.
Thanks. So the dentist we went to suggested deep cleaning the two teeth (upper front) on either side of the one that fell out (by making an incision in the gum, cleaning, then suturing), to make them stronger and prevent them from falling. Then in the near future taking them both out as well and replacing all three spots with artificial teeth. Does this really have to be done? Can't just the one that fell out be replaced?
a dentist can sometimes reattach a tooth that has been knocked out. this needs to be done immediately and the tooth should be kept moist while in transit. if your tooth just fell out on its own it probably had a serious problem and you need to get to the dentist to find out why it fell out before you loose any other teeth but reattaching is pretty much impossible.