Root Canal Treatment is usually performed in a tooth when the pulp tissue in a tooth gets exposed to the outer environment. It might happen due to a cavity or trauma to a tooth where a large portion of the tooth gets chipped.
By doing a root canal, we remove the living portion of a tooth which is responsible for all the sensations we experience in a tooth-hot, cold sweet etc. The cause of pain is thereby eliminated and the tooth is left to function normally.
Why a crown is must over a root canal treated tooth?
However, when we remove the nerve tissue from the tooth, the blood supply of the tooth is also inadvertently, cut off. By cutting off the blood supply, even the water cannot enter inside the tooth structure. This makes the tooth hard and brittle in the long run. And a brittle tooth is very highly prone to fracture. Now since the tooth is already dead, we don’t feel any sensation when the tooth chips piece by piece. Once a tooth breaks or fractures, there is no choice but to extract the tooth. So all the time, money and energy that has been spent on saving a tooth by root canal gets wasted.
What should be the timing for the crown?
It is advisable to go in for a crown of the root canal treated tooth right away after the root canal treatment. This is especially true for posterior teeth where the chewing forces are very high. The biting forces in posterior teeth can go as high as 500kg!! For anterior teeth too, this is applicable as nobody can predict when the tooth will fracture. A crown over a root canal treated tooth secures it thereby minimizing the chances of fracture.
So, if you want your teeth to function for a long duration, it is compulsory to get a crown over the root canal treated tooth.
What type of crown should you opt for?
The type of crown is of least importance from the view of preserving the tooth. All crown types be it metal, metal fused to porcelain or all ceramic would play the same role in preserving the tooth.
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