A dental emergency dentists see frequently is when a root canal tooth breaks at the gum line. Commonly, these teeth do not have a post. In the example above the tooth actually did have a post. The post fractured in this case along with the tooth.
The patient came in asking for a dental implant because he’s been previously told the tooth cannot be saved. Since only the root of the tooth remained.
Is it worth trying to save a tooth with a guarded prognosis?
I often call a tooth that’s broken at the gum line a 50:50 tooth. We can try saving it with a Rescue post. This has about a 50% chance of succeeding. The large Rescue post may also end up fracturing the tooth. In our dental office we offer a 5 year industry leading warranty. In case, the tooth cannot be saved. We’ll credit the fees from the tooth crown towards the future dental implant crown.
Dental Implants are an amazing technology. However, the process for getting a dental implant, usually takes about a year. First we would extract the tooth, place a dental implant six months later. Then make a crown for the dental implant another six months after that.
When using a rescue post and making a new crown, the process takes just 2 weeks for us to get the new porcelain crown after the post is placed and an impression is taken.
Saving A tooth broken at the gum line
Our patient opted to try to save the tooth broken at the gum line. Dr. Peter Mann removed as much of the broken post as was safely possible to make room for the new rescue post. The new post was cemented inside of the root. An impression was taken for a new crown.
How’s this Tooth Holding up now?
This tooth was originally saved in 2013. Our patient has been really diligent about coming in for routine cleanings every 6 months. Which allowed us to follow this tooth to make sure it was fine. As of now in 2022, this tooth is still holding up strong after almost 10 years of use. Other teeth have failed and we have done dental implants. But this tooth beat the 50:50 odds to last a long time.
