are there any dentists or endodentists on this forum?

[Chuck Wintle]

I have a tooth, that on an xray shows what might be an abscess at the root level. This tooth has had a root canal and has a crown. Now the endodentist tells me that he will need to drill right thru the crown to treat/look at this abscess but there is a risk the crown will shatter. This is making me nervous as he did not elaborate on what will happen if this should occur. That is why I am seeking opinions.

[John M Wilson]

About a year after getting a crown, I developed a toothache in the crowned tooth. Examination revealed the need for a root canal.

The endodontist drilled right through the crown with no problems. After he cleaned everything out, he put a filling in the crown.

Everything worked out just fine, except I have a beautiful crown with a filling in it.

Neither the endodontist or my regular dentist (who examined me first) ever said anything about the possibility of the crown shattering. Maybe crowns come in different varieties of material.

At the time, I wasn't concerned with a shattered crown -- I would have gladly paid for a new one just to make the pain go away.

Hope yours is resolved quickly, and with as little pain as possible.

Good luck!

[George Bokros]

I had a root canal done on a tooth with a crown with no probs. My experience was the same as John's.

[Joel Goodman]

Is the crown gold or is it gold with white enamel covering some or all of it? The gold is soft and would be easy to drill; the white covered crown not so much.

[Mike Henderson]

I had the same experience - drilled right through the crown and filled it with amalgam. Porcelain crowns are metal with a thin coating of porcelain. I don't see any reason it should shatter but ask for a second opinion.

Mike

[I have heard of all porcelain crowns (no metal) and if that's what you have, it may be why they recommend against it.]

[Chuck Wintle]

Is the crown gold or is it gold with white enamel covering some or all of it? The gold is soft and would be easy to drill; the white covered crown not so much.

its a porcelain crown,

[Larry Whitlow]

I'm not a dentist, but have been on the receiving end of a couple of successful root canals in teeth with a crowns. Like others have already indicated, no one said anything about the possibility of the crown shattering. I suppose if that did happen, they would just make you another crown.

[Don Morris]

I'm a Board Certified Prosthodontist, that's a specialist in crowns and bridges. Usually, there is no problem drilling through a crown, if it is all metal. If the crown is metal with a porcelain covering, then there is a possiblity the porcelain may shatter if the dentist has to drill through the porcelain portion. If the crown is all porcelain or of a similar material (as some are of today) then the possibilities increase. If a portion does shatter, then it will depend on how much has shattered and if what remains is still structurally sound. I have had some lose a portion of the porcelain and what was left just needed to be smoothed, and that crown remained in the patient for many years with no cosmetic or structural problems. Occassionally, gaining access to the root canal required the endodontist to open an area wide enough to compromise the structure of the crown (particularly a tooth with more canals than normal) and a new crown was required, but certainly not always. Putting a filling in a root canal treated crown is a common procedure.

[BOB OLINGER]

I'm not a dentist but am a recipient of several root canals (one just earlier this month) several crowns (both gold and porcelain) and even an implant. I'm amazed and totally appreciative of the progress and what the dental industry can do.

[Doug Garson]

Another non Dentist but I had a tooth with an old (probably 10 year old) root canal that was part of a bridge supporting a false tooth (not sure if I have the terminology right). The root canalled tooth became infected. I was given the choice to drill in from the top destroying the bridge and clean out the old root canal or, as recommended by my Orthodontist, operate from the side to go in and clean it up. I went with the recommended approach, surgery took 1/2 hr or so and recovery was about a week and all's good. Maybe discuss with your Dentist or Orthodontist whether this would work for you. This was about three years ago and it's still good.

[Jeff Bartley]

Good luck with the procedure Chuck. I’ve had two root canals, during the first a titanium file was broken off in one of the canals. The endodontist told me I was leaving with a prize. I’m still crossing my fingers that it doesn’t cause problems in the future!

[Kev Williams]

I recently had a 35 year old 3 tooth bridge fall out, the middle tooth filled a dead spot, the outers were crowns over root canals, all porcelain over metal. The business end of the teeth were still good but quite a bit of the porcelain was gone from the sides, looked like flaking car paint. Don't know how long they were like that...