Re: Split root, now what?

SirXyzzy wrote:

So my tooth number 19 is an old but abused friend, with treatment going
back 30 years when it was root canalled for the first time. About 5
years ago I had a crown put on after the side of the tooth split off,
damn that hard pretzel! Quite recently I had a recurrence of pain and
swelling on the gum, and was sent back to the endodontist who drilled
through the crown and after about 20 minutes work declared that the
back root was split vertically and there was zero chance of saving the
tooth, now it needs to be extracted...

Blah, I'm not too happy to see the wasted crown let alone the
incomplete RCT (a mere $470 in itself) and I am now faced with
decisions.

It seems from reading the groups that a split root is pretty much the
death knell for the tooth, so I guess the extraction is a given, but
what next?

Can I go on with the tooth missing? That would be ideal as I don't give
a fig for cosmetics, but is that going to cause my other teeth to drop
out. Is a bridge the right thing, or maybe an implant. I was pretty
astonished to be told the price of the implant would be about $8000, is
that about right? I'm not sure how the bridge would compare. Are there
treatment options other than those I've identified so far.

The adjacent teeth are not in a good way, the tooth behind it already
has a crown, the tooth in front has a decent sized filling.


$8K for a single tooth implant replacement sounds very high--maybe over twice average.
See my earlier post about monitoring. #19 is a big and important tooth, and generally replacing is best, but you can have your dentist monitor it over a few months to see if there is any movement, and evaluate how much you miss it.
If the adjacent teeth are beaten up but periodontally healthy, I will usually lean toward a traditional fixed bridge.

Good luck,
Steve

--
Mark & Steven Bornfeld DDS
http://www.dentaltwins.com
Brooklyn, NY
718-258-5001
.

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