Re: Root canal treatment through crown ?????

Dog,

Hi there- I am a practicing endodontist in the Southwestern United States- a root canal specialist. Your dentist is absolutely correct to go through the crown to perform the root canal. If you have the crown removed, there is a greater chance of fracture or "warping" the margins of the crown. Many times the crown does no come off in one piece. It was cemented with a permanent cement, and some of the cements used today are so significantly strong that to remove a crown it actually has to be drilled or cut off. Even if it were to come off in one piece, it would be so distorted by the action of trying to get it off that the edges of the crown, which were custom designed to fit with your tooth, will now be distorted and the edges will not be a good fit, allowing bacteria to re-infect the tooth. In terms of going through the crown- yes, there is a risk that the crown can chip, fracture, or crack, but the risk is small- and it is much smaller than in trying to remove the crown. All day long I perform root canals on crowned teeth and only remove the crown if A)the crown is going to be junked anyway due to damage, decay, etc or B)in unusual cases where I cant find a canal, or think there may be something odd going on with the tooth where I need broader vision of the tooth in which case I tell the patient that we have to remove the crown AND the patient is told that they need to get a replacement. I hope this helps. Josh Tweet