How soon after root canal treatment should a crown be placed?

[Mina]

Hi

I am due to have my back tooth root treated in a few days and my dentist has recommended that I have a crown soon after the root canal is finished. I would like to wait a bit longer to save some money for the crown.

I would like to know how soon after root canal treatment should a crown be placed on a root filled tooth?

[Dr Vahid Motahar]

Hi,

Thank you for your question.

There are few schools of thoughts with regard to how soon one should crown a tooth after root canal treatment (RCT). But these I believe are the most agreed upon options.

A tooth should be crowned as soon as possible after a root canal if the root canal itself is of very good quality with minimal possible risk of failure. This is beacuse teeth after RCT are very fragile and can easily fracture. So it is better to have them protected by means of a crown soon after RCT. Also studies has shown that crowning the tooth after RCT prolongs the success rate of the RCT itself and less likely to fail.

However in some cases where one is not sure whether RCT will be successful or there can be underlying causes that reduces the prognosis of the teeth, such as the presence of deep fracture lines in the tooth, then some may suggest to post pone the permanent crown placement by few months to ensure the success of the previous RCT treatment. But even in these cases it is suggested that a temporary crown should be placed on the tooth so it is not without any protection. In short the sooner the crown of whatever nature is placed the better