Hi annikasamper,

So you are talking about your upper lateral tooth. This would be the tooth next to a front tooth. Correct?

Your long term (permanent) replacement options depend on the health of the bone as well as the health of your gums and teeth in general. So it would be wise to have a complete treatment plan that included all of your teeth not just this one.

Some permanent replacement options could be:
...A dental implant if the bone is healthy and adequate enough to hold the implant.
...A permanently cemented bridge that spanned across several teeth and would replace this missing tooth with a fake one attached to the bridge. To do this the teeth involved in the bridge would have to be healthy (not root canaled). Those teeth would be shaved down and covered by the bridge. Replacing a lateral tooth would mean that at least one central (front tooth) and the canine (the tooth behind the lateral) would need to be part of the bridge as they would serve as anchor teeth to the bridge that replaced the lateral.
...A removable partial denture which is an appliance that replaces any missing teeth in the entire arch. So if you had other teeth missing or had them removed due to extensive decay then the partial would replace those teeth as well as the lateral. This is worn for esthetics, to keep the existing teeth from shifting and can be worn when eating most foods.

The short term or temporarily solution could be what is called a flipper or small removable partial denture. It is a small appliance similar to a retainer that has a tooth on it to replace the extracted tooth. This appliance snaps into place and is removable. It is worn for two reasons. One is esthetics so that you don't walk around with a missing tooth. Two prevent the adjacent teeth from shifting towards the space.

Without xrays or a clinical view of your mouth I cannot tell you what would be the best choice for you. This is why you need to discuss your overall dental problems with your dentist, explain to him that you are concerned about keeping infected teeth and may want them removed... this way he can give you a comprehensive treatment plan that includes every thing. If you patch things up here and there you will find yourself in the dental chair more than you want to be and financially patch up dentistry always costs more in the long run.

I hope this information is helpful to you. I know this can be very confusing. If you are concerned about keeping your root canaled teeth for the reasons that I have stated, then please sit with your dentist and seek an alternative treatment plan that includes removing those teeth, replacing them and taking care of the rest.

I wish you well...
Bryanna