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Nervous about crowns after root canal treatment

  • Thread starter Thread starter aa1909
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aa1909

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I was quite shocked when I was told that I may need root canal treatment in future, because I have always tried my hardest to take care of my teeth and have been to the dentist regularly my whole life. I had almost reconciled with the fact that I may need this treatment, when I discovered that it is very common to also have a crown after root canal treatment. I'm very worried about this as I don't understand much about it. The tooth shaving part in particular concerns me a lot - do they shave a lot of your tooth off? Will my tooth be a stub underneath the crown? Do crowns look and feel like normal teeth? Does every root canal treatment require a crown? Will this cause me problems for the rest of my life (I'm only 26) or will I be able to fix my teeth and move on with my life? (I understand that crowns aren't indestructible and it will need replacing at some point.) I had fillings in the three teeth that I was told may need root canal treatment, but two of them continue to be sensitive to the cold three months later, so I have an unfortunate niggling feeling that I may have to face this sooner rather than later. I am not particularly concerned about the root canal part anymore, moreso with the crown. Any reassurance would be appreciated as this has been consuming my thoughts and I'm struggling to see how I can overcome this. Realistically I know that there are worse things in life than having dental treatment, but it truly feels like the worst thing in my life right now.
 
Crowns are usually necessary after RCT for 2 reasons. First, the original decay to cause the RCT and the subsequent removal of tooth substance to get good access to the canals to do the RCT will usually leave the rest of the tooth quite severely weakened, they are also somewhat more brittle due to the loss of blood supply to the dentine. Second, to get a really good seal over the root canals to prevent further ingress of bacteria into the canal which can cause failure down the road.
Crowns can be almost indistinguishable from a normal tooth and feel pretty much the same, slightly smoother to the tongue maybe (as he licks his own crown!!!).

The natural tooth underneath is usually made into a sort of flat cone shape. That won't matter to you as you'll hopefully never see it.

Crowns can last indefinitely, the modern materials are pretty much indestructible in any kind of normal use.
 
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