I know a man with a tooth problem. He’s had peridontal disease and currently has two bad teeth with an infection in the roots causing long-term sinus problems. The dentist gave him antibiotics for a while, the infection is back, and now he wants to perform two root canals. We are wondering if this will cure the sinus infection so it won’t come back, or if it would be better if the dentist just pulled out the teeth and, I dunno, made up a couple of false ones to put in there. The man is thinking of asking for a consultation before the root canal appointment to discuss this. I know dentists will try mightily to ‘save the tooth’ at all costs. The whole thing is getting rid of the sinus infection. Would you go through the root canal procedure? Did you ever have a tooth extracted and a false one made and attached somehow? Just curious.
I had one root canal and it was definately worth it. But I’ve heard of people have a root canal only to have it fail six months later and wind up having to have the tooth pulled.
I can’t imagine false teeth would ever be as comfortable and useful as a root canal. My root canal tooth is a molar in back and it works just as good as real one. I think the real question is cost. Can you afford to spend a thousand bucks on something that may or may not take?
I had two root canals done a few months ago. Not pleasant but not as bad as all that. I’ve also had teeth extracted, which was much worse.
The only way to get a false tooth that’s as useful as a real tooth is to get an implant, which is ruinously expensive, and, I’d suspect, even less pleasant than getting a tooth pulled.
Or a permanent bridge after extraction. In some cases (if the teeth aren’t adjacent) that’s an OK option.
I’ve got to second this. I’ve had teeth extracted and had root canals and the extraction was worse. (The root canals weren’t actually painful. Then again both times I had a periodontist do them so you’d expect they’d be good at it.) I mean after my last root canal I went back to work after each of the 4 appointments. After the extraction I couldn’t go back because I had IV sedation. (Admittedly the worst procedure I had done was a crown lengthening. Man that whole thing about no hot food for a day after the procedure was horrid. I would have figuratively killed for a nice bowl of tomato soup later that day.)
Oh, I’ve had a dental implant too. Not too bad of procedure but it was pretty expensive (IE more than twice the cost of a root canal) and it’s not as functional as a real tooth. (There’s no feeling in it at all which is to be expected. Also I’ve read implants don’t work as well for molars and mine’s on an incisor.)
Root canals have been painful in legend, but I’ve had 3 recently and with proper modern anasthetic, it is no worse than any other dental work. Then they put a post in the tooth root and attach a crown to that, so you have the same tooth but no pain.
With extraction, you get a plate or bridge(s). If the two teeth are side by side, the a bridge would have to span a larger gap and put more strain on the adjacent teeth; they better be healthy. A plate ore removable partial would always be uncomfortable and inconvenient. (I stopped wearing my partial when I got a bit of peanut under it. That caused a sore swelling that left a lump and the partial never fit right afterwards.
With root canal, you have a dead tooth root. The root can slowly lose calcium and you run the risk that with excessive force the root maybe could crack in time, 20 or 30 years from now. Oh well, then you extract and get a bridge. Meanwhile, much more comfortable and natural-feeling.
Of course, many people do not have dental coverage and the relative cost of the different options may be significant. Since I have not had to pay for this sort of stuff, I have no idea how the costs compare.
(myself, have had several root canals, while expensive, the actual procedure was was no big deal at all. but I digress.) So you think the root canals (one molar, one incisor) would not only be less expensive, but would eliminate the ongoing infection?
I’ve only heard of plates and partial plates being put in after an extraction. I think years ago the dentist would make a false tooth that you could stick in there, not that it would stay in there anyway. So - no to that idea…
Implants are much more expensive than root canals, as has been mentioned. If the tooth can be saved, that’s probably the better option.
I agree a tooth after root canal is better than the other options. It doesn’t preclude them, either, if root canal doesn’t fix it. I had a root canal and later an extraction on the same tooth, but would still make the same choice based on the information available at the time.
I had 2 molar teeth extracted; originally I had a partial that clipped around the two adjacent teeth, and a bard went around and also clipped around two teeth where I had another extraction. Eventually I had a bridge put in, instead. This bridge is glued to the adjacent teeth. (A friend had a snap-in bridge to replace one tooth). So if I chew too hard, for example, all that strain is on two teeth, not 4. Plus, they drilled away at 2 otherwise fairly healthy teeth so the bridge fit onto them.
A friend in dental school years ago mentioned that when the root is dead (they kill the interior, especially the nerve, in a root canal) the root will slowly lose calcium. You occasionally hear of the elderly cracking a tooth that has had a root canal and has been basically a crown on a stump. Of course, part of this is general bone deterioration too.
With implants, they stick a post into the bone of the jaws and the bone is supposed to grow back around it to anchor the post. The top is then attached to a crown. Of course, the viability of the implant depends on how well the bone grows back and grips the post - the procedure works best when you are younger and healthier. The trick as I understand was that the post has to be rigid, but not too rigit - early tests with metal posts put to much strain on the bone and tended to loosen the post. Current technology AFAIK involves fancier materials that give the post a bit of flex (and also encourage the bone to grow back in and grip it) so that chewing presure does not work the post loose.
I think it depends on which tooth it is. I had alot of work done on my back/bottom/left tooth over 3+ years. Ultimately it had to be extracted.
Because of it’s location, no implant or bridge or anything was required.
No complaints with my dentist…he gave me all my options the whole way thru. It sure cost me alot of $$$ trying to save the tooth though.
Interesting information. I just had a molar cavity filled, and the dentist told me that if it continued to be painful, a root canal procedure would be required. So far is is only mildly painful, except if I drink anything cold, so am waiting to see. Probably will be required.
Several mentions of it being expensive. What is the general ballpark figure for this kind of work?
I had a root canal done several years ago on a tooth that eventually started hurting all the time.
Now, I’ve had many root canals in the past, and they all involved several appointments, to kill the root, and then to widen the canal to accept the cement.
This most recent one, the endodontist wanted over a thousand dollars BEYOND what my insurance would pay. When my loan application was denied (we had just had a foreclosure), he “waived” part of the copay fees, so my amount was “only” $200.
It was a one-visit deal, and instead of the manual use of ridged pins to scrape the root canal wider to accept the cement, everything was drilled.
It hurt like a sonofabitch after the novocaine wore off, and it hurt BAD for about a week.
When the pain of the root canal finally relented, the damned tooth itself STILL hurt.
I went to the nearby School of Dentistry, where I was examined by several professors and evaluated by the head of Endodontics. Verdict: the tooth was cracked in two, and the only solution was extraction.
It was a back molar, so no implant was necessary. Most dental insurance will NOT pay for the implant itself, and will only cover the crown to the usual limits, typically 50% An implant can set you back a couple grand.
An implant can only be done in healthy bone tissue, and you have to be evaluated as to whether or not this is feasible.
If the OP’s friend with the tooth problems is having recurrent sinus infections, this would probably implicate a front tooth. The location of the tooth plays a big part in whether or not you want to go through the hassle and expense of an implant. For appearances sake, most folks will make that investment.
~VOW