I'm reposting my response in the event someone else searches for this info...
jar, a root canal removes the nerve and blood supply, but for all intense and purposes, that supply is more for when the tooth was forming when you were a kid then for now. Yes they can become brittle without it but as everyone said, a post (internal strength) and crown (external strength) are the STANDARD OF CARE. If your dentist never told you you need ones on the 2 RCT you had, I agree, you need to find a new dentist. Some people just don't listen to their dentists though, and if you were told to do it and just never did for one reason or another, then it's not the tooth or the dentists fault. Gum disease definately could play a factor in losing a tooth....make sure you are flossing...brushing/rinsing only cleans what you can see, not below the gums, ever, but sounds like the tooth actually broke, which means you didn't have a crown on it.
Implants are only placed in healthy mouths. If you have no gum disease you can most definately look into implants, but you will have sticker shock. It takes about a year, from start to finish, and the surgury to put in the implant is only 1/2 the cost. Then you need to put a crown over it when all is healed well. Figure about $3000 per implant total from beginning to end.
Another option might be a bridge if you have a healthy tooth on either side of the missing tooth. It would be quicker but probably cost only a little less.
Hope that answered all your questions...
<message edited by Winebrat on Tuesday, October 31, 2006 4:19 PM>
