To Crown Or Not To Crown?

[Gregooch]

My wife is 54 and recently had a cracked tooth a while back and the dentist did a root canal. The tooth continued to bother her for weeks. He did a root canal and it continued to bother her constantly so much she could not chew on one side. Then started to do a crown after; putting in a post the tooth continued to cause her constant pain. Now she is tossed between having the tooth pulled as opposed to having it crowned. She also suffered a stroke several years ago and is on Aspirin if that makes any difference. Is pulling and leaving a gap not advisable?

 

[Dr. Garrett Fiorenza]

This depends a lot on your preference. Sometimes when you have been through a lot already with a tooth you may come to a point of frustration and just want to take it out. A crown could work in this case, but without knowing all of the information about the tooth it is possible that the crack will not be fixed with a crown.

If taking this tooth out will not hamper your wife's eating ability I think that an extraction is a good option. Hope this helps,

Garrett Fiorenza, DDS
www.fiorenzadentalgroup.com
Greenwood, IN

 

[DRAVG]

A cracked tooth is very difficult to treat. It does sound like the crown may not rectify the problem, so i do concur with Dr. Fiorenza in that extraction may be a good option.