Help! Dentists! AIBU?

[SEMPA1234567]

I’ve had almost zero dental treatment in my life so am very unfamiliar with dentists/their procedures etc but luckily I’ve always had healthy teeth.

I went to my dentist a couple of months ago as I was getting a little sensitivity on one tooth. He said that tooth needed a filling, fine.

He also said that a tooth on the other side (where I had zero pain) needed a root canal, so I had this done too.

Afterwards he said to make an appointment for 6 months time, and said he’d do a general check up and discuss fitting a crown. He advised I didn't eat on the root canal side as it could break.

I have 90% of the time avoided chewing on that side however last night I accidentally did and it cracked, I’ve now got a chunk of tooth missing.

Ive just had a quick google and it looks like the advice is a crown should have been fitted straight away to stop this happening. Are there and dentists on here that could confirm this?

AIBU to ask my dentist to do whatever work needs to be done now free of charge as he failed to complete the root canal properly?

He advised you not to eat on that side, so it must have been at least possible that doing so would cause a problem. You did eat, whether inadvertently or not and it has caused a problem.

How can you know he didn’t do the treatment properly? If his intention was to do a full check in six months and prep for a crown, I don’t see that he’s not given the correct treatment.

Well yes, it’s my fault in the terms of he told me not to eat on that side and I did, but 6 months is quite a long time not to let anything touch that side of my mouth isn’t it? Was it a reasonable expectation that an uncrowned tooth would last that long?

Im not saying the root canal treatment wasn’t done properly, I’ve had no problem with the root canal.

Im asking was it his mistake not to crown the tooth straight away or is this common practice to wait 6 months?

If he had of crowned it straight away I probably wouldn’t have a broken tooth right now.

Is there any reason to wait 6 months to crown a tooth? Why wouldn’t it be done straight away if there’s a risk the tooth can break?

I don't know why you were made to wait 6 months, that seems a long time, but you do usually go back at a later date to have the cap fitted, yeah. I think it's to do with the inflammation/infection risk/general healing of the gum before it's covered.

Crowns are not always done straight after root canal treatment. There is always a slight risk the root canal treatment doesn’t work.
Then you have an aggrieved patient who’s paid out for both, and it’s failed.
It’s a tricky balancing act in afraid

What @Pinkypinkyplonk said I’m afraid, very often it’s a judgement call on how tricky the root canal was and chances of it succeeding versus how strong the remaining tooth structure is ie are there any visible cracks how much is left -as to whether a crown is done immediately or a few months to a year or two after root canal treatment.

Nope, sounds normal. I had a gap of 15(!) years between a root canal and the crown, which is extreme but it actually held together during that time. So it's impossible to predict whether the tooth will be fine without a crown or end up breaking. Dentists give the guideline of 6months but it's ultimately the patient's decision and responsibility.