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I have a three piece bridge for numbers 7, 8, & 9. The number 8 tooth was the one with the false tooth. The problem I have is with the number 7 tooth. This tooth needed a root canal but there wasn’t a whole lot of tooth left, so the dentist put a post in the tooth so it could be used for a bridge. That tooth now broke off at the gumline, including the post, leaving my bridge being held in by one tooth. I don’t expect that will last long. Is it possible to get another post put in?
Eve
Dear Eve,
I’m not keen on the bridge treatment in your situation to begin with. The biting forces of that tooth could make it challenging to keep the post intact. Obviously, your biting forces were too much for the post. As for replacing the post, that is going to be tricky.
First, you’d have to remove it. Your post broke off at the gumline so there is nothing to grab. Your dentist would have to drill away a fair amount of tooth to make enough from for the dentist to grab the tooth and twist it. The number 7 tooth is a small tooth. In fact, it’s the smallest front tooth. Drilling that tooth would leave you with even less support for the post than you had before everything broke.
Replacing the post, would have the same results, especially because you have even less support now. Plus to do any of that you’ll have to remove the crown that is over that tooth. When that happens, then you have to replace the entire bridge. You won’t be able to replace just the broken piece.
My suggestion is that you go a different route. I think you should get two dental implants. One for the original missing tooth and another for the root canaled tooth. Originally, this would have been the best solution anyway. It’s possible your dentist does not have a lot of training in dental implants and that is why he went the bridge route.
Don’t try to pressure him into it. Dental implants are an advanced procedure which takes significant post-doctoral training. There are countless dental implant horror stories where inexperienced dentists were in over their head. It’s the patient who suffers when that happens from things like infection and dental implant failure all the way to loss of a piece of their jaw.
Because of that you want to go to a well trained dentist who has a high success rate. Look for someone who is a fellow with the International Congress of Oral Implantologists (ICOI). These are the best implant dentists in the country.
This blog is brought to you by an advanced dentist in Baton Rouge Louisiana Dr. John Theriot.