I have a dental bridge on the upper left of my mouth. It is attached to tooth 4 and 6 to fill the gap left after extraction of number 5. I now have a problem with tooth 6 which requires root treatment. My dentist has given me two choices:
1) Try to do RCT through the crown of tooth 6 leaving my bridge intact apart from drilling, or
2) cut the bridge in front of tooth six, complete RCT and replace the crown leaving me with a crown on a free standing tooth 6 and in effect a cantiliver bridge to replace five which is attached to crown on tooth 4.
I am confused as to what to do because I have no idea what is the best thing. I am concerned that the cantiliver will make tooth 4 crack but want to do the best thing to make sure the RCT is successful.
Any advice?
ANSWER
Cantilever bridge … hmmm. A cantilever bridge is supported/attached at one end only and this puts a lot of stress on the supporting tooth. Rarely used and then limited to areas that don’t have much stress during chewing and eating. It would be a bad day indeed if/when the supporting tooth broke.
Root canal treatment is often performed through bridgework/crowns. But … the main thing is … does your dentist have specialist root canal skills? Although more expensive initially it might cost you a lot less in the long run, and you might save your tooth. Root canal treatment if poorly done will be curtains for the “poorly” tooth.
I went back to general dentist today and said I didn’t like the idea of the cantilever bridge so the other option was to be referred to an endodontist with better equipment. It’s pricey but if it means saving the bridge and not putting other teeth in danger then I think it is money well spent. Thanks for your reply.