Extraction or root canal? WWYD and why?

[smokymountain]

It’s 2nd molar (upper 7), wisdom teeth removed under GA 30 years ago.

Am v phobic about the dentist. Extraction is £200. Root canal and crown approx £2500. Bite means lower tooth won’t ‘erupt’ so dentist says it’s balancing how much I want to spend with how long I spend in the chair.

Please share your experiences !

I had an extraction (upper 6) rather than root canal. I was told that there was a fair chance the root canal wouldn't be succesful, and I'd already had a long (60min+) stint in the chair trying to do a filling. It isn't visible and I was just so glad it was over. The extraction wasn't fun but the tooth had a bent root. Healing was very straight forward.

I fucking hate root canals. No way was having one.

out it came.

Im having a root canal on exactly this tooth in a few days. Dentist reckons it has a 90% chance of success and said that saving the tooth will protect other teeth in the future. Of course if hes touting for work he will say that I guess. Another dentist told me I could lose it ok.

I would always try to preserve the tooth first. Can always pull it if the root canal fails. 2.5k seems a heck of a lot though!

I had similar. Asked them honestly what the chances of root canal working was and they said 40-50%. I wasn’t spending thousands to end up having it out anyway so had it removed.

This!

Thanks for your replies. Dentist is a family friend and said it’s 50/50 so may as well decide based on cost!

Extraction booked for Weds but still not sure it’s right decision…

My root canal is costing 1k private. Then a crown as an nhs patient something like £330.

i did consider going to Poland and talked to clinics where it’s about £400 for a root canal. But they said i might have to go twice which put me off.

I had a root canal and then five years later I had to have the same tooth extracted. I wish I’d had the bloody thing out the first time! I would choose an extraction now.

I have 2 for canals and crowns, 20 and 17 years old. They've lasted all. I've just had the crown replaced on one. Another tooth had to come out (I have terrible teeth 😭) as it was a failed root canal which split my tooth. That gap has got bigger over time and I think it's affected my lower teeth, collapsed in a bit. Having teeth removed does affect your mouth structure. I wish that tooth had not had to come out.

If you have the extraction, what will you do with the gap?

I did have a root canal about a decade ago on the nhs for about £64 and it’s been fine ever since.

I had a root canal and a crown on a lower 7. It was done on the NHS otherwise I’d not have had it done. It did need to come out about 3 years later, by which time we’d moved house and my dentist was private. It ended up being a surgical extraction and cost me £900. I wish I’d had it out in the first place.

I was a dental nurse when I was younger and I saw I lot of root canal treatments fail.

I had a root canal 40 years ago and still have the tooth, with crown. It has never given me a moment's trouble. So because of my experience I'd opt for a root canal rather than extraction.

I’m dentist phobic and had the root canal and crown
it failed 3 weeks later
how pissed off would you be if you spend the money and lose the tooth anyway?
mine is my first lower molar

Root canal or extraction + implant.

Extract as root canal is VERY low success and a tooth that size has tons of tiny nerves. This was my dentists advice to me!!!

I've had several root canals and all but one are still there, 30+ years later - I had an NHS dentist at the time. I've also had two apicectomies which is where they remove the root from above by going in through the gum. It was worth it to me to save those teeth.

I used to be phobic about dentists, but strangely having to have so much work done actually cured the phobia. I realised that it doesn't actually hurt once you've had the injection, which is usually the worst bit.

The hygienist, on the other hand ....

I had an upper molar root canal 3 years ago. Tooth has recently broken and had to be filled so now waiting for an extraction. I have been referred to dental hospital as it needs to be a surgical extraction and I have chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia.

In my case I have a wisdom tooth pushing on the molar which is why it's breaking as root filled teeth become more brittle.

I too am phobic about dentist but just want to eat normally and apparently the new filling on my broken tooth is considered temporary and I can't eat anything hard or sticky.

I’ve had root canal on the same tooth on the nhs around 3 years ago and all fine so far no problems

I’d have always said just extract based on my own experience of having 2 root canals on molars both of which then needed to be extracted later. I guess it was at least a year later but that didn’t feel worth the pain and expense to me.

However my friend recently had an awful time with a dry socket and broken fragments in her gum after an extraction went wrong and now needs to pay mega bucks for a gum transplant. I feel awful because I advised her to have the extraction instead of a root canal (not that I think my casual water cooler conversation was the deciding factor).

Both of mine that I had extracted were upper back molars (one each side) and as they were the ‘last tooth’ there is no gap and I honestly don’t think I am bothered about the loss in terms of function.

After I had the root canals there was still intermittent pain, gum problems and it never felt quite right whereas after the extractions once it healed up it’s been no bother at all so that swayed me to always prefer extraction.

I’m adding to the long list of extractions following expensive root canal. My DH recently spent £1200 at a specialist endodontist only to have to have an emergency extraction a few days later.