Does My Root Canal Really Need a CROWN?

All to often a patient presents to my office with a broken tooth that has been endodontically (Root Canaled) treated. The conversation between me and the patient is usually the same. My question, Mrs. Johnson, why didn't you get a CROWN on that tooth? Answer, My dentist never told me that I needed too. Well Mrs. Johnson, we need to extract the tooth now, it can't be saved!
I remember back to Dental School and having looooong lectures about crowns. One of the top reasons we were taught to do a crown was to restore a Root Canaled tooth. This lesson was told to us over and over again! It's hard for me to believe that most dentist forgot this lesson and have elected to not tell patients that their Root Canaled tooth needs a Crown.
For informative reasons, lets discuss what actually happens to a tooth once it is root canaled.

• Often times a large amount of tooth structure has to be removed during the root canal.
  
• The treated tooth is most often weakened by the root canal
• Over time the treated tooth becomes brittle.
• There is usually not enough natural tooth structure to support the remaining tooth.
• A filling or temporary filling will not adequately seal the root canal from contamination and support the remaining tooth.

So, what does a CROWN do for the Root Canal.

• Simply put, a crown protects the tooth and restores your Root Canaled tooth to normal form and function!

Let's face it, like everything else Dentistry is expensive, including a root canal. Ok I said it, Dentistry is expensive. I honestly tell my patients before we do a root canal, If you don't plan to get a crown on this tooth you may as well throw your money out the window, because your tooth will eventually break! A crown not only protects your tooth, it protects you investment.