Advice on Suggested Dental Crown Replacement with Implant?

You have described a pretty typical problem that I see in my dental practice frequently. You have a front tooth that needed a root canal and crown. A front tooth with a root canal should also have a post placed in the tooth. The post act like rebar to reenforce the tooth and minimize the risk of tooth fracture. Unfortunately, posts also present inherent risks including root fracture and displacement of the post. 

Most of the time when a crown as you described is "loose" it means that the post has debonded from the tooth. If the post and crown only lasted six years then doing a new post and crown would probably not last any longer. Therefore, the suggestion to take the tooth out and replace it with an implant and crown is not a bad idea since we know the implant will last indefinitely. Sometimes it makes no sense to continue investing in a tooth that doesn't have a good long-term prognosis. 

If I can't honestly tell my patient that a restoration will last a long time I am extremely reluctant to offer it as a viable option. There are almost always multiple ways to fix a dental problem; in your case, a dental implant and crown could well be your best treatment option.

Good luck!

Hi

It is not unusual for a tooth to become non restorable after crown placement. Some times it is because of recurrent decay and others because there is not enough tooth structure to support a crown. In this case, extraction and placement with a dental implant is an ideal approach. Placement of another crown on the tooth, if there is poor support, is unpredictable and will most likely not be effective in long term.

thanks

dr. kazemi