There’s confusion among many patients about when to have a tooth removed and replaced by an implant and a crown cemented onto the implant as opposed to when to save and restore the natural tooth with a crown.

The simple answer is if the natural tooth is healthy enough to be restored with just a crown, that’s your best option. In many ways, it is a simpler, quicker treatment that saves time and money while being overall a more comfortable procedure that makes good sense!

Implants are great but are almost always a second choice to having your healthy natural, God-given tooth. A healthy tooth is the optimal “implant “.

If the natural tooth requires a root canal treatment before a crown can be placed, the decision becomes a near “toss-up,” as a post/core to reinforce the root and upper portion is usually required. In addition, there’s the added cost of root canal treatment, post/core and crown, not to mention the complexity and treatment time of extraction, bone graft, implant and crown. Many dentists feel the Implant option has a better long-term prognosis than the root canal-treated natural tooth. Again, this can be a toss-up according to Lakeside’s Dr. Alan Robinson since he always favors saving natural teeth when possible and practical.

If the tooth or teeth are already missing, or are beyond repair, then implants are your best option. At Lakeside, we can often replace those missing or severely damaged teeth almost as if they were never lost. It is truly a modern miracle.

If you have questions about missing or damaged teeth, please contact us for a no-cost consultation at 586-228-0909 so that we may precisely evaluate your situation and design a treatment plan recommendation specifically for your needs.