Bad chipped tooth - Do I need implant? Had two opinions

[theorist]

Hi. Thank you for reading this. I am truly appreciative of any help I can get.

This past Saturday, I fell and landed on my face. I chipped my two front teeth. One is not so bad. It was easily fixed with bonding. The bigger chip is the one that has a couple dentists with different opinions.

I went into a dentist and had it fixed. They took pics, x-rays. He fixed it by using composite bonding for the tooth and using it in the back against my gum to sort of close the area that was broken in the back. He said that the damage was bad in the back of the tooth and it were possible I would end up losing it and suggested that a extraction and implant would eventually be the only real way for this to work.

Second dentist today told me (after seeing the fixed work of the first dentist) and said that I may not need an implant and I should wait it out a bit and see how the tooth heals, even the broken part in the back.

Do you think I need an implant? Is that the best course of action? Both of these dentists are pretty respectable in their community. Thanks!

My two biggest concerns, will I never be able to use my front teeth to bite into anything again if I don't get a implant? Secondly is I am afraid of how much this will cost. I have dental insurance but it only covers $1500 a year at 70% for an implant.

Here are the photos. Sorry if it is a little graphic.

Picture of me with the chip.



Picture of the damage in the back of the tooth.





X-rays of the area (BEFORE REPAIR)

 

[Loveday112]

I am sorry this has happened to you. The repair looks pretty good. I am not a dentist, but I would say at the minimum you would need a root canal and possible crown. I say this from experience. When I was in high school I got hit in the mouth with a softball and it fractured my front tooth. I didn't know it at the time, but it slowly started to die and change color. I got it root canaled and a crown put on. I would try all options before an extraction especially for your front tooth.

 

[comfortdentist]

I assume that the dentist is trying a pulp cap because it looks like the pulp is exposed. Usually if you have pain or an infection afterwards the dentist would do a root canal.