Root Canal Treatment or Dental Implant - Which is Best?

A Dental Treatment Dilemma that Requires Diagnosis and Treatment Planning

Patients and dentists often face a complex dilemma - whether to save a tooth using root canal treatment and a permanent restoration (a filling or a crown), or remove that tooth and replace it with a dental implant and a crown. While some dentists have a strong preference for one treatment or the other, most dentists treat every patient and every tooth as a unique case. Dentists weigh the condition of the tooth, the patient's general dental and medical health, financial considerations, and the patient's preference.

Deep tooth decay and trauma (accident) may damage the pulp of the tooth. The pulp is the soft inner part of the tooth; it is the part of the tooth that includes the nerve and blood vessels. The root canal is the hollow part of the tooth that contains the pulp. Root canal treatment means that the dentist removes the pulp from the tooth through a hole in the top of the tooth. The dentist fills the hollow tooth down to the tip of the root with a long lasting, rubbery material. In some cases, a hard filling to plug the hole in the biting part of the tooth is all that is necessary to restore the tooth to normal function. A tooth that is under more stress like a molar, or a tooth that has more damage requires a cap or crown to rebuild it.

The success of root canal treatment is very likely, but not certain. Sometimes root canal treatment is not able to remove all of the pulp or infection. If the pulp dies because of a crack in the tooth, root canal treatment will not fix the problem. Since cracks are hard to see and diagnose, sometimes dentists treat cracked teeth without realizing. Sometimes, the shape of the root canals is so complicated that it is not possible to completely clean the canals.

Sometimes, teeth are so broken down by decay or accident that it is not possible to restore those teeth even with a crown. Dentists may be able to salvage some teeth with periodontal (gum) surgery to expose more of a broken tooth. That surgery may expose more of the root of the adjacent teeth which will make those teeth sensitive and more susceptible to gum disease and decay.