Will I be ok know?

[mytahoe]

I went to the dentist Sept.1. I told her that my left back molar was hurting me and my last dentist (who I can't find from hurricane Katrinia) said I will eventually need a root canal. That was a year ago. It just started hurting. So she took an x-ray and said I see no sign of a root canal. She took the old filling out and replaced with new filling. I thought from that moment I would be fine. Later during the week I was still having pain so I called that Friday Sept.8. I told the one of the nurses that I was still hurting. She said give it another week if it is still hurting call us back. I let the weekend go by. Still hurting I was know taking motrin twice a day. I called that Monday to schedule a root canal for that Friday. So I had to suffer for another week what fun. Can not eat on that side. I have to drink with a straw. I can't even rinse my mouth out with water because it hurts so bad. So Friday came. She did the root canal. She cleaned it out took an x-ray. She said she only seen two large canals. She dried my tooth and placed a rod in the canal. (The rod looked like a skinny Q-tip)then she took another x-ray. She could not find any more roots. She even took an instrument to measure how deep it was. When she finished she sealed it up. I asked her about a crown she said that I don't need one because my enamel was still good. I don't understand that. I thought you needed a crown after a root canal. Is it true about only 2 canals I though it was 3 or more. She did say they were very large canals. Will I be fine know? Do I need a crown on that tooth?
Thanks Mytahoe

[mike1105]

molars should have crowns 99% of he time to prevent fracture. these teeth take alot of stress, and root canals both weaken the tooth and make it brittle

[siren of the sea]

just my humble opinion but yes you do. that tooth can become brittle and is more likely to break on you. get a crown to protect all the work you just had done.

[Jerome Bogin, D.D.S.]

It is not necessary to have a crown placed on ever tooth that has a root canal. That being said I am very cautious about what type of restoration I put in molars post RCT. I would be more inclined to place a crown on the molar for fear that it might fracture. It is possible that there are only two canals present.