Dental Implants: Q&A

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Why Get a Root Canal if You Can Get an Implant?

With the advent of the implant are root canals a thing of the past? What are Endodontists saying about this??

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12 Doctor Answers | Asked by anon

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Dental implant or root canal

Hi If a tooth has a very good prognosis by performing a root canal and a proper restoration, then it should be the treatment of choice. If the prognosis is poor or it requires significant number of procedures to save and there are structural compromises, then extraction followed by implant should be considered as the treatment of choice. When appropriate, and performed by skillful endodontists, root canals can be very successful. It is best to do predictable dentistry, and not heroic... more

H. Ryan Kazemi, DMD

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Bethesda Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon

www.facialart.com

Endodontic treatment vs dental implant

Root canal therapy still exists and is a predictable treatment for the teeth with good bone support, enough of remaining tooth structure and when saving the tooth is important for occlusion. If the situation with the tooth is compromised, it is severely decayed, has periapical changes and periodontal disease - dental implant becomes more predictable option. Usually before considering the endodontic treatment and invseting the money in it the patient should ask his dentist about all possible... more

Implants vs Root Canal

Your question is a good one. It all comes down to predictablility. In the past, dentists did everything they could to save a tooth but with the advent of dental implants that has changed. No dentist likes to extract a tooth unecessarily. If a tooth is in need of a root canal and has good bone support and adequate tooth structure remaining to restore the tooth then I feel that root canal therapy is appropriate. However, if the tooth is compromised, has a... more

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Dental Implant or Root Canal?

As dentist we always try to be as conservative as possible when performing treatment. A root canal is the most conservative treatment the majority of the time. Root canals have well over a 90 percent success rate and are many times a wise choice of treatment. In cases where a tooth would require a post and core or the retreatment of a past root canal, it is my opinion that a dental implant would give a better long term prognosis. There is a place and time for both of... more

Great question!

Believe it or not there are more and more Endodontists ( root canal specialists) who are placing dental implants. Why? Because they can be very good judges of when a tooth is not worth saving and are a very trusted colleagues of the many dentists who are not comfortable with dental implants. I am a general dentist who has been placing and restoring dental implants for nearly 30 years. I also do many root canals on a daily basis but sometimes a judgment call based on... more

Why get a root canal when implants exist

My feeling is to always do the most conservative treatment possible after weighing all the pros and cons. If the prognosis of a tooth after doing a root canal is poor then a dental implant may be the better alternative before attempting the root canal procedure. I see many times root canals performed on teeth that should have been extracted because the prognosis of a crown and post is guarded.. I personally would never extract a tooth without trying a root canal... more

If you can save a stable tooth, do it!

Even though implants are an extremely successful treatment option I would recommend you try and save your tooth with a root canal assuming that the dentist thinks that the prognosis of the tooth is favorable. Maintaining what you have is the more conservative approach.

If the tooth is truly salvageable, it may be a more conservative approach.

Implants have not become substitutes for root canals. Yes, there may be a very fine line at times between one versus the other, thus a good and professional evaluation is absolutely necessary prior to proceeding. Sincerely, Anca Bazile, DDS, MSD Periodontist, New York City

Rootcanal vs. Implant

If a tooth has good bone support, a long root and at least 5 mm of tooth "stump" above the gum line, do the root canal. If not, do an implant.

A good tooth is still the best.

Let me start by saying that I am a fan of both root canal treatment to save teeth and implant treatment to replace missing or hopeless teeth. Some teeth cannot be saved. They may have a root fracture, or decay that makes them unrestorable, or maybe they are periodontally involved to the point that there is not enough bone to hold the roots in place. If however there is enough good healthy tooth structure remaining I feel that nothing is as good as a good tooth. Teeth... more

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