I had Root canal and need a crown how long will a crown last

Q. Hi Dr Solanki, I had root canal treatment on one of my teeth over a year ago, the tooth has now broken. I have been informed by my dentist that I now need a crown as soon as possible. Could you please advise me what crown I should go for and how long one would last. Also, please could you tell me how much I should expect to pay for a crown as i’m looking to change dentists, and want to make sure that I choose the best one. One more thing, what are the chances of a crown falling off? because the last thing I want to do is pay for the treatment and within a month it falls off. Many thanks in advance.

A. Hi R,

Many thanks for your enquiry. this is a common problem i see from day to day. Once a tooth has been root canal treated the crown portion of the tooth is generally weaker and subject to a lot of biting forces. In normal function when a tooth is alive, if you bite hard upon the tooth the normal reaction is for the tooth to feel the force and subconsciously say “i don’t think i am going to do that again”. Unfortunately when you root canal treat a tooth it loses the feeling in the tooth so if you do bite hard upon the tooth it can be destroyed. This is why a crown is always the best treatment option to help protect the tooth.

Which type of crown to chose is then the next option. The most common type of crown is a metal ceramic (bonded) crown, this has metal on the inside of the crown to give it strength and porcelain on the outside of the crown to mimic tooth colour. These crowns if done well can produce beautiful aesthetics but the technician has to be very talented. The main disadvantage of this type of crown is that they are generally finished at the join where the crown meets the tooth by metal so when the gum around the crown recedes’ the first thing you see is this dark metal collar around the tooth which looks unsightly.

The more widely used crown in modern dentistry for long term aesthetics in the front parts of the mouth are all porcelain crowns. This means the crown is made from porcelain and has no metal sub core, this also means that when the gums recede you do not see a metal collar around the crown. Due to the problem of root canal treated teeth darkening i would recommend a lava or procera crown which can be made to also block out the colour of the tooth underneath.

The cost of crowns vary from area to area and this also varies dependant upon the technician doing the work. The average cost of a metal ceramic crown ranges from £450- £900, and all porcelain crowns range from £600- £1500. Hope this is helpful.

Dr Kailesh Solanki
kissdental

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This post was published on Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 at 2:32 pmand is filed under Dr Solanki's Answers, Experts Answers, Q. Dental Finance, Q. Dental crowns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “I had Root canal and need a crown how long will a crown last”

  1. Periapex Says:
    March 19th, 2008 at 8:51 pm

    I hope this doesn’t come across as argumentative, but the periodontal ligament is the only part of the “tooth” that can feel bite sensitivity. Pulpitic teeth will demonstrate inflammation in not just the pulp but also the ligament which is why they often become bite sensitive. Endodontic treatment does not destroy the periodontal ligament, so teeth are still proprioceptive after root canal work.

    Teeth also do not become more brittle after root canal treatment. Crowns are necessary in cases where the size of the existing filling, or the amount of natural tooth structure is insufficient to provide strength to the tooth under chewing forces.

    A tooth that requires a crown after root canal treatment is generally the same tooth that would have required a crown prior to root canal treatment. There are always exceptions of course.

    An example of a tooth that would be unlikely to need a crown after root canal treatment is a tooth that has not experienced any decay or previous filling work (eg. subluxated teeth with no fractures, or teeth undergoing internal resorption).

  2. Becki Smith Says:
    April 24th, 2008 at 3:09 am

    I’m really confused. I had a root canal done on a front tooth, about 15 years ago. My dentist at the time noticed that it was slightly darker than my other front tooth. He sent me to an endodontist who said I had probably had some trauma to it…though I don’t remember when…and that it had a hairline fracture in it (which I still can’t see). He did a root canal but I have never had a crown put on it. My new dentist says that I need to have a crown put on it, with a post, since it might break. It has not darkened ANY over the years, and no one notices the VERY SLIGHT color differences between the two teeth. My teeth are pretty white overall, with regular whitening treatments. I know I did not get any temporary fillings, etc., done at the time, but I don’t remember whether or not a crown was indicated at the time. I was reading something a few days ago that stated that putting crowns on for ALL root canals is an old fashioned way of doing things, especially with posts, since teeth may not always need a crown. I have insurance that will cover the majority of it, so $ is not an issue. However, I don’t want to put a crown on if it is not necessary since I have not had any problems with it. However, I also don’t want to be sorry if I break it off later. What are your thoughts? I have an appointment made to get this done, but I don’t want to go through with it if I don’t have to. Also, I have been reading about all kinds of problems with crowns…don’t want that either. Thanks for your input! becki

  3. Leah Collett Says:
    July 18th, 2008 at 8:25 pm

    I had a root canal 8 years ago (on a molar towards the back of my mouth). I had not had any work previously on the tooth and the whole experience was traumatic - after having to wait a week for an “emergency” appointment, it later transpired an abcess had formed; the dentist failed to notice and told me to make a booking for a filling to be done. I had to wait over 2 weeks, by which stage I was hardly able to function - when finally I went in for the filling the dentist decided to do a root canal immediately and said it was by far the worse he had seen! Anyway, I have had no problems since until today. I don’t have a lot of the tooth left, however I bit into a cracker and the half of the tooth near my tongue came detached. As it was on a friday evening, I tried to ring every number I could find on the internet to try and get some treatment this weekend. Everything went through to NHS Direct eventually, who told me to try and “wobble it out”, and it’s not seen as an emergency. I was told to speak to an NHS dentist on Monday to see if I could make an appointment (I can’t, there is no NHS dentists within 40 miles accepting patients). I’m now in quite a lot of pain from trying to wobble it out - I have weak gums and they’re bleeding a lot!! I can’t believe from your information that NHS direct are correct in saying that wobbling half of a molar out is the right thing. Whilst the odd filling is affordable privately, I simply can’t afford the cost of having a crown done. I did use a private dentist but they just wanted me to have cosmetic work done on my teeth I couldn’t afford. Oh well, just have to try Monday with my local NHS dentist then!

  4. confused Says:
    July 31st, 2008 at 11:37 am

    am I confused? or did he not answer the question here? How long with the different kinds of crowns last? and also how long can you wait after the root canal until you have to get the crown?

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