Tooth : remove or root canal?

[Cutantrim]

Just that really! It’s upper R 5, the teeth on either side are missing and this one is dead, thinks the dentist. She said I need to decide whether to keep it or remove it. How do you decide?

My dentist said teeth support each other and keep the jaw strong and prevents shrinkage. You may find your face goes a bit lopsided, so I would go with root canal. If you want it removed can you not have a top plate with three false teeth put in or have implants?

Dentist said to me to smile and see if I could see the tooth. If I could it was worth trying root canal or having false tooth. If you couldn't see it to think about just getting rid.

My dentist gave me this choice too, but strongly swayed me to go for root canal. Even though nobody would see the tooth missing and I could have a screw in, he said nothing beats having all your own teeth if you can help it, so I went for RC and don't regret it :)

Thank you

What’s root canal like? Compared to having one removed?

From a pain/experience point of view

Zero pain, I could feel it/the roots being cleaned out but not painful, just aware of it. Takes a while but your jaw is wedged open so you can relax it and they use a dam so you can swallow to your hearts content behind it (phew).
Took a good month or two before it fully settled.
I've had one extraction and I'd take a root canal over that any day.
But mine was private, my roots are to crooked for NHS to touch them.

Do you have any crowding? A molar extraction helped my crowded front teeth, which naturally uncrowded themselves over the following few years. I didn't use the clip on denture to see if they moved, and they did. I had to have extraction because of a root canal that went bad again after about ten years.

I would have the root canal, especially if the teeth either side are already missing. You could always go for the extraction later on. At least hanging onto it you would have some sort of support if you wished to bridge the gaps. If the dentist believes the tooth is already dead you may not have much pain as the nerve could already be dead x

Are your teeth over crowded.

If so removal may improve things (it did for me) the gap is pretty much closed now

Sorry, I didn't read it properly before. Didn't notice you already had other teeth missing on that side.
A plate with three false teeth could be more straightforward and cheaper to manage in the long run.

I found extraction easier than root canal but that might be because the dentist who did the root canals was horrible, and then the root canal caused more problems later.