Broken front tooth

[Koray]

Hi

My front tooth fractured last week and the dentist told me that it looks pretty bad and should be removed. He said he can try root canal treatment but there is not much of the tooth left and it might break even more and he could not give any guarantees that it would actually work.

My dentist thinks that I would be better off with having my front tooth removed and having an implant as soon as possible. I don't want to lose my tooth if that is possible and wonder if you would you willing to try a root canal and if so, what sort of guarantees can you give for the root canal. Basically, I dont want to waste a lot of money if the tooth is not going to last but at the same time don't want to lose a good tooth. Please help.

[Dr Mohsen J. Esfahani]

I am affraid we cant give guarantees with root canal as it usually works but sometimes it fails. If there is not much left of the tooth, you will probably need a post to give retention for the crown core. On the whole, dental implants are a better bet for a tooth where not a lot of tooth tissue remains, but dental implants involve surgery and some patients prefer not to have surgery.

I know if I had a broken down tooth, I would try to save it and prolong the day an implant becomes necessary. But from a pure financial point of view, it might make more economic sence to remove a broken down tooth and have an implant.