Question:
I'm supposed to get porcelain crowns on my 6 front top teeth. I've
already had 4 of them shaved down for PFM crowns (which I didn't
want). I have temporary crowns on them now. I'm waiting to have the
rest of the work done for the porcelain ones. My question is, my
dentist said that there is a good chance that I will need to have root
canals done on these teeth because they have to be shaved down a lot
more for the porcelain crowns and a nerve could get exposed or
whatever they said, is this common?
Answer:
Pretty common, we do not listen to patients any more!
If the tooth is mis-aligned or rotated in certain ways, yes
this is quite common.
If preparing the tooth for a crown that will correct these
problems the pulp will be exposed,
root canal therapy is indicated.
I think Jen is stating that she was told she might need root canals
because the crowns are all ceramic, that they require greater tooth
reduction. Personally, I think this is generally not true. If the
tooth is malposed, root canal may be necessary regardless of crown
material. Even with old style porcelain jackets with a full shoulder
prep, my incidence of intentional root canals with most teeth (perhaps
excluding lower incisors) was not significantly higher for pj's than for
my pfm's.
I'm just a patient and a veteran of a handful of crowns. FWIW, I had my
middle two upper incisors broken at age ten and crowned at age 16, after the
pulp chamber was supposed to have shrunken. I was warned that the chance
was great that I would need a root canal, but it's been 22 years since the
crowns and all is well.
OTOH, I had a premolar go sour on me last year after 8 years with a crown,
and just had a RC last month. It went well; the endodontist was able to
preserve the crown, albeit with a amalgam filling in it.
I think the risk of pulpitis is there any time work is done on a tooth, and
they do have to take more of the natural tooth when it's porcelain. Chances
are, though, that you'll be fine for many years.
