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Hi,I need some advice. I been reading about root canals and it is so confusing as to what to do. Majority says it is the best option but I dunno. So here is my story.
I was to the dentist and was told that I have a crack in my #14 molar 2nd from the back top left it has a filling in it from when I was younger. I was told that she would need to take the filling out to place a crown on it but there is no way of knowing how deep that crack is and I may possibly need a root canal also. So my options that I was given was to take the filling out and place a crown on it and depending how bad the crack is a possible root canal or pull the tooth and then talk bridge or inplant.
I was thinking of just telling her to pull it if the crack is to bad and then get a bridge. But I am not sure what is the best option for the long term thats what I want to know. I don't want to get a crown and root canal then later down the road end up having it pulled anyway.
You could get a second opinion from a different dentist.
But it sounds like you're dealing with a bunch of "what ifs" here. Depending on how bad the crack is, pull the tooth or not, take filling out or not, etc. etc. etc...not sure why she'd take the filling out, a filling covers a hole in a tooth, it doesn't cover the tooth itself. A crown covers the tooth itself, it doesn't fill in any holes. If there's no filling, and you cover the tooth, then you cover a tooth that has a hole in it. Unless she's talking about re-filling the tooth with a new filling, or filling the hole with the cement she's using to place the crown?
One thing I wouldn't do, is a bridge. The #14 is a tooth you do a lot of chewing on. If that tooth is pulled and replaced by a bridge, you now have a "no-tooth" in the spot you do a lot of chewing on. That means the two anchor teeth are bearing the burden of a lot of work, and this could come to bite you in the butt later on in life.
If it were me, personally, I'd go for the implant. But that seems to be my answer for all dental ails lately. That's due to the issues I've had with teeth. Due to a car accident when I was much younger, and improper placement of a bridge as a result of loose teeth from that accident, I've had nothing but troubles. If implants were more widely used then, like they are now, I would've had that done, and probably wouldn't have had to spend a fortune UNdoing all the damage done then, and all the subsequent damage done *because* of the initial problems.
Basically what happened:
Two front teeth jarred loose. I was in such bad physical condition, my life was a priority, my dental issues were lost in the shuffle. A few years later - I got veneers. A few years later - one of the veneers cracks, I get them all taken off because that one turns out to have a bad tooth under it. I get a bridge instead. A few years later - one of the anchor teeth gets an abscess. Endo does the root canal through the bridge, all's fine. Four years later - the tooth next to the empty spot starts building up calcalus because the bridge didn't fit all the way down, and bridge needs to be removed. Turns out there's a bad root there too, so I need a new bridge. They fit me for a 6-tooth bridge instead, meaning two MORE teeth have to be ground down to fit the new bridge. The temporary bridge comes loose while I'm on vacation elsewhere, eating dinner, and the anchor tooth cracks when the bridge falls off in my mouth because it happened while I was in mid-chew and I bit down on the edge of the bridge with the drilled-down anchor tooth.
I end up getting that tooth pulled, a whole new bridge fitting, an implant, etc. etc. etc. The only things I did -not- have problems with is the implant. Long story short - at the end of all of this ordeal, I now have two implants, one 6-tooth bridge, one crown, and only 3 of my own teeth still intact on my upper mouth. My lower teeth are all intact, with only 2 fillings from the time I was a kid. But because of all the moving around of the teeth on my upper jaw, my bite has changed, and my lower teeth have shifted, and now I need braces on my lower jaw.
My two cents, pull the tooth and get an implant. A bridge means they will grind down two anchor teeth and if one of the anchor teeth on a bridge fails, you are out the cost of the bridge, initial root canal cost and will have two teeth to replace. In my opinion, implants, if you can afford it, are the best long term solution nowadays. It replaces just the tooth that needs replacing and does not affect other teeth.
Hi,I need some advice. I been reading about root canals and it is so confusing as to what to do. Majority says it is the best option but I dunno. So here is my story.
I was to the dentist and was told that I have a crack in my #14 molar 2nd from the back top left it has a filling in it from when I was younger. I was told that she would need to take the filling out to place a crown on it but there is no way of knowing how deep that crack is and I may possibly need a root canal also. So my options that I was given was to take the filling out and place a crown on it and depending how bad the crack is a possible root canal or pull the tooth and then talk bridge or inplant.
I was thinking of just telling her to pull it if the crack is to bad and then get a bridge. But I am not sure what is the best option for the long term thats what I want to know. I don't want to get a crown and root canal then later down the road end up having it pulled anyway.
Thoughts???
If the dentist cannot tell you how deep the crack is how are they going to know that a crown is the best choice period? You would not put a crown on a tooth that was cracked all the way up the root. In all honesty I cannot see having a root canal and then a crown on a tooth that could have a crack clear up it. I would have it pulled.
Hi,I need some advice. I been reading about root canals and it is so confusing as to what to do. Majority says it is the best option but I dunno. So here is my story.
I was to the dentist and was told that I have a crack in my #14 molar 2nd from the back top left it has a filling in it from when I was younger. I was told that she would need to take the filling out to place a crown on it but there is no way of knowing how deep that crack is and I may possibly need a root canal also. So my options that I was given was to take the filling out and place a crown on it and depending how bad the crack is a possible root canal or pull the tooth and then talk bridge or inplant.
I was thinking of just telling her to pull it if the crack is to bad and then get a bridge. But I am not sure what is the best option for the long term thats what I want to know. I don't want to get a crown and root canal then later down the road end up having it pulled anyway.
Thoughts???
Some bad advice in this thread. Is the tooth even symptomatic or painful? If the dentist noticed a crack in your filling a crown may be all that is needed. If the tooth has been very painful or if the crack is really deep, you may need a root canal. Dentists often say the root canal part just to CYA in case the crack is deeper than they suspected.
90% of the time an RCT and or RCT/crown is the way to go. Much cheaper than the implant option--and I've seen implants fail as well.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I have had 3 root canals, all of them lasted well until I bit too hard on a bone and that one had to be yanked for an implant. If you have good dental insurance I would also recommend the implant, if not the root canal is about 1/3 the cost. The implant ran close to $3,000 before insurance.
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