Broken post

[Sheri]

Hi

I had a root canal filling a few years ago and the dentist placed a crown with a post attached to it afterwards. Last week the crown fractured and my dentist told me that the post has broken off the crown and remained in the tooth.

My dentist has recommended that I see a root canal specialist to see what can be done with the broken post. I would like to know what are my options if the post cant be removed by the specialist? Will I have to have the tooth removed or can it be saved?

[Dr Ehsan J. Esfahani]

Hi Sheri

Thank you for your question. Without seeing your tooth, I could not tell you what your options would be, because there are so many variables to this problem. Generally speaking, with a broken post in a single root tooth, we always try to remove it first.

If it can't be removed or the root fractures during its removal, then the options would be to extract the tooth and place an implant, a bridge or a denture or even leave it as a gap if its not in the smile zone and the gap does not bother you. I am sure that the root canal specialist will explain all of this to you in detail.