I broke my left front tooth. My dentist did a root canal and a post. After 6 months, the tooth has discolored already. My dentist advised that I get a porcelain crown. Is there a better option in my case because I don’t really like the crown.
- Christina from New York
Christina,
I can’t tell for sure if you need a crown on your tooth or not without an examination, but let me give you some guidelines and principles.
On a back tooth, when you have a root canal treatment, it’s especially important to get a crown, because the tooth otherwise is very susceptible to vertical fracture, and if that happens, you could lose the tooth.
On a front tooth, there isn’t so much risk of vertical fracture, but we still often will do a porcelain crown. It doesn’t always need a crown. Sometimes, the right kind of post will strengthen the tooth enough. But then you have the problem of discoloration. Although it should take several years before a root canal treated front tooth will discolor, if the dentist doesn’t seal off certain root canal filling materials and confine them just to the root of the tooth, it will discolor sooner.
And there are other ways to treat a discolored root canal tooth. It can be whitened from the inside. Or a porcelain veneer can correct the color. But if a large portion of your tooth has broken off, I would probably lean toward having the crown.
A problem with the crowns most dentists do for front teeth is that they have metal in them, which makes them opaque and will cause them to eventually get a dark line at the gumline. We do all-porcelain crowns on front teeth, and they look beautiful and perfectly natural, so that you can’t tell them from a natural tooth. But I wouldn’t advise asking your dentist to do this type of crown for you unless he or she suggests it, because many dentists aren’t trained in the highly specialized techniques required to place these but may be tempted to try it by your encouragement.
I hope this helps sort things out for you.