Please respond ----

Number 14 with a previous crown has recently had a root canal done.

What is the maximum amount of time that should be allowed to pass to have a permanent crown / restoration done after the root canal has been done, with temporary restoration only ????

Thank you for your replies.

Jerome

Hi Jerome,

I am in the dental profession and can offer you some information here.

I assume you mean the time frame it takes for the tooth to heal from the root canal until the permanent crown is cemented. That is kind of a trick question and here is why.

Conventional dentistry will usually cement a permanent crown within a one to three weeks after a root canal treatment. If the tooth had been severely broken down and/or badly infected prior to the rc treatment, then the tooth is monitored for several weeks to see if it remains symptom free.

Also, I would like to make note that conventional dentists will tell their patient that putting on a crown will "protect" the rc tooth. This is slightly correct in that the tooth becomes very unhealthy after a root canal making it vulnerable to fracture. So the crown acts like a blanket as it covers up the exposed portion of the tooth. However, the crown does not alter the interior integrity of the tooth which is always going to be unhealthy.

The tricky part is twofold...

One thing for certain is that teeth never heal completely after a root canal procedure simply because it is not possible to remove all of the infected, necrotic tissue from the interior microscopic canals. Therefore, rc teeth will never be "okay or healthy" again. The problem with this is that the bacteria does spread beyond the tooth into the jaw and sometimes further. An infected upper molar (#14) may also infect the sinuses. Everyone is different in that the time frame for this to occur varies on many other individual factors.

Two pertains to the symptom factor. As with many chronic conditions concerning the body, relief of symptoms is not always a good indicator that the problems are gone or "cured". Where teeth are concerned symptoms of a problem or infection are typically not noticed until the problem is severe... or there is swelling...or drainage... or the person becomes physically ill.

I really don't get any pleasure out of telling you all of this especially after you've had the rc... etc. But if your dentists did not inform you of this information, they certainly should have prior to doing the rc treatment.

I assume this is more than the answer you were looking for....but my purpose of being here is to inform people of the honest truth about dentistry to the best of my ability.

Bryanna