Root canal/crown replacement - necessary?

Question:

I saw a new dentist yesterday (insurance reasons). This is at one of those dental conglomerates. Anyway, she said I have an abcess under one of my crowns which will require a root canal, and they'll have to replace the crown. The crown is around 10 years old, and now that she mentioned it, I can feel a little something going on with it, but I haven't had any discomfort. She did give me an rx for antibiotics.

So my question is - should I bother going back to my old dentist for a second opinion before proceeding? It's not going to cost me anything, so that's not the issue. I'm just surprised that they found so much on my very first visit, and she is pretty young, so......Do I worry about having unnecessary work done? If they do it and it turns out it was unnecessary, is there any dental harm to me?

I switched to this dental plan because I can get braces very inexpensively. I still consider my old dentist to be the main guy, and plan on returning when the braces come off.

Answers:
It is not uncommon to have an abcess at the base of the root of teeth and not have any clinical symptoms. It is possible to have and infection in a tooth that does not have a large cavity. I don't know the history of the tooth, so I can't comment on what the tooth looked like ten years ago before the crown was done. However, if a lot of tooth structure had to be removed or there had been a fracture or large decay in it before, then it is possible that over time the nerve of the tooth devitalized (nerve died). Sometimes this is a very slow process that doesn't produce any clinical symptoms, but over time, bacteria will colonate within that dead canal space and begin to replicate. Usually since the nerve is dead as has no sensation to it, you don't feel any problems, until the bacteria reproduce so much, it causes a swelling within the bone (an abcess). Usually this can only be seen on an x-ray (not all x-rays though, only ones that show the base of the root), if your previous dentist was only taking bitewing (checkup) x-rays, it is possible that he did not see it!

My advice to you is, if you have any doubt, go back to your previous dentist and have him/her check it out. They are more familar with the history of the tooth. Your previous dentist may be aware that it is there and may have been keeping an eye on it, because it was not causing you any symptoms.

It sounds like the tooth will need a Root Canal. Sometimes that can be done through the existing crown; however, for the best result the crown should be redone as well!

ok well if you have an absess tooth it NEEDS to come out you can die if you don't get it taken care of and if it dont' bother you know believe me it will start to. as for you r old dentist. they don't always to a routine check up of all your teeth unless you have a complaint. i would deff. go with the root canal and a new crown. you can go to your original dentist and jsut let them know and he iwll do an xray and probbaly find the same thing and you can just let your dentist do it or stick with the new dentist and get everything that is wrong fixed that is entirely up to you. but i wouldnt' let the root canal go. good luck

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Root canal/crown replacement - necessary?

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