I often wonder about this, because they made me remove mine due to "risk of infection". But afterwards I now get infections there if I get food stuck in the pocket left behind and can't get to a water pik soon enough.
Interesting, I did have to do two separate surgeries because my first got botched (I was a ten out of ten in terms of hardness according to them). Had some residual nerve damage...
Is it actually possible? I had dry sockets infected and it was equivalent to going through surgery again, except for the whole day. Had it fixed the next day.