Root canal or have the tooth pulled?

[enayes]

I have an upper molar that has been filled multiple times and is still causing me discomfort. It's extremely sensitive to hot and cold, etc.

Should I have it pulled or get a root canal? The dentist will most likely push the root canal.

[Akrazotile]

I have an upper molar that has been filled multiple times and is still causing me discomfort. It's extremely sensitive to hot and cold, etc.

Should I have it pulled or get a root canal? The dentist will most likely push the root canal.

Wow, good thread timing. Im facing a similar decision.

The back two teeth on the top right of my mouth are packed really close together and stuff gets stuck in between them super easy. Unfortunately my flossing consistency wasnt as good as an adolescent as it is today and the slow deteriorating is finally catching up and theres a pretty good sized cavity on my very back last tooth. The decay is too deep now to just get a filling so I have to choose which road to go, root canal and crown or just have it yanked.


Ive been putting the decision off which probably isnt a good thing either. Need to decide soon.

[Meticode]

I worked for a company who scheduled soldiers for dental treatments. Rule of thumb is if you have a tooth that corresponds with that tooth in chewing (for example if you're looking to have work done on an upper molar and there's a lower molar that touches it when chewing) then you try to save the tooth. Because it's still useful. Also it might good to save the tooth if you plan to get an implant later on or some type partial denture or something. Please take into account the military is cheap when it comes to this and they'll usually go to pulling a tooth versus saving it, especially if the tooth has no job or purpose at the time.

It's up to you to save it or not if it's savable, but it's purely for your own reasons.

I've had some soldiers stress saving a molar when the molar has no job whatsoever, there's no tooth below or above to to chew anything, it's just sitting there doing nothing. They just want to keep the tooth for piece of mind.

I've had other soldiers say "Screw it, pull it, it doesn't chew anything anyway, what's the use of it being there?"

I can tell you this, pulling the tooth is a hell of a lot cheaper than saving it because root canals will only last so long. They'll probably come a time where it'll fall out, or the tooth or crack or something negative will happen to send you back in the office.

Personally if I had generally good teeth overall, and it was just this tooth giving me problems, I'd definitely save it.

rufuspaul is a dentist, so he might chime in on this, but we can only offer so much advice since we don't have access to bitewings or panorex x-rays of your mouth.

[Meticode]

Wow, good thread timing. Im facing a similar decision.

The back two teeth on the top right of my mouth are packed really close together and stuff gets stuck in between them super easy. Unfortunately my flossing consistency wasnt as good as an adolescent as it is today and the slow deteriorating is finally catching up and theres a pretty good sized cavity on my very back last tooth. The decay is too deep now to just get a filling so I have to choose which road to go, root canal and crown or just have it yanked.


Ive been putting the decision off which probably isnt a good thing either. Need to decide soon.

Is it a wisdom tooth? If so, pull it. I'm guessing it's not though.

[Akrazotile]

Is it a wisdom tooth? If so, pull it. I'm guessing it's not though.

Unfortunately not, already had my wisdom teeth pulled.

[gigantes]

i had a root canal done on a molar and it was pretty much my worst decision ever. a few years later the crown popped off, probably exacerbated by decay which had resumed underneath, and i wasn't in a position to afford more dental work at the time.

time passed, the base of the tooth cracked, and i now have three large fragments floating around the gum where that tooth used to be. what with most of my medical time being spent on other problems, i still haven't had the fragments yanked... not like i'm looking forward to it! but oh man, do i wish i'd had the molar yanked and an implant done when i had the chance.

i've had two other molars yanked in the past, and the loss of them hardly bothers me at all. fortunately the near teeth did not drift at all, which is apparently a concern. maybe i'm just lucky.

one other funny thing-- the first tooth i had yanked i didn't get much novacain injected, so it hurt like bloody hell coming out. BUT the rush of endorphins right after was pretty amazing, and the wound hardly bothered me afterward. i really did miss that awesome painkiller rush the second time around. :P

[Done_And_Done]

Ohhhhh Rufffffffffffus!!!!!


I encountered the same predicament a whiles ago. I looked in the mirror and smiled as wide as the Grinch to confirm its absence would not be visible when smiling. I also ate a cookie to ensure it would not annoy me while eating (that proved nothing but the cookie was dope nevertheless)

Had my dentist yank the effer out...

[Akrazotile]

i had a root canal done on a molar and it was pretty much my worst decision ever. a few years later the crown popped off, probably exacerbated by decay which had resumed underneath, and i wasn't in a position to afford more dental work at the time.

time passed, the base of the tooth cracked, and i now have three large fragments floating around the gum where that tooth used to be. what with most of my medical time being spent on other problems, i still haven't had the fragments yanked... not like i'm looking forward to it! but oh man, do i wish i'd had the molar yanked and an implant done when i had the chance.

i've had two other molars yanked in the past, and the loss of them hardly bothers me at all. fortunately the near teeth did not drift at all, which is apparently a concern. maybe i'm just lucky.

one other funny thing-- the first tooth i had yanked i didn't get much novacain injected, so it hurt like bloody hell coming out. BUT the rush of endorphins right after was pretty amazing, and the wound hardly bothered me afterward. i really did miss that awesome painkiller rush the second time around. :P

Appreciate the perspective here

[Akrazotile]

Ohhhhh Rufffffffffffus!!!!!


I encountered the same predicament a whiles ago. I looked in the mirror and smiled as wide as the Grinch to confirm its absence would not be visible when smiling. I also ate a cookie to ensure it would not annoy me while eating (that proved nothing but the cookie was dope nevertheless)

Had my dentist yank the effer out...

How did everything work out consequently? Are you still satisfied with the decision?

[Done_And_Done]

How did everything work out consequently? Are you still satisfied with the decision?

Very much so.

It's still undetectable through my smile and it doesn't affect the way I eat food or vageeena in the slightest. The gap doesn't seem to retain any plaque build-up either.

So yeah, no 'regerts'

[JohnnySic]

I had a tooth pulled a year ago; it had been causing me problems and had been filled multiple times over the coarse of almost 20 years.

You get used to not having it. As long as the gap doesn't show.

[DukeDelonte13]

yank it.

[IGOTGAME]

Get the root canal. Yanking the tooth can cause your teeth to shift. You don't want an Anthony Davis smile.

[JohnFreeman]

I have a black hole on the top of my tooth. Doesn't hurt

[tomtucker]

pull it out......it