Crowned front tooth on upper jaw is wobbly. Should I wait or get it extracted for implants?

Question

I have extensive work done on this upper front tooth as a child and the root of this tooth is very wide. At the moment, I am getting decaying and smelly juice from this wobbly tooth. Saw my dentist today and he tried to removed it but failed. He is also worried that he may crack it if he force it out. At the same time, he told me to be prepared that my tooth may be already crack. He told me to wait for my crown to fall out and if it's just the screw, he'll be able to put it back but if not, I will have to get it extracted. I am feeling devastated as I do want to keep this front tooth of mine. Is it true that if a tooth is crack, there's no way of healing it ? If I really have to do an extraction, should I choose to have a bridge or an implant? Is there any where that I can do an x-ray that will show me if my tooth is cracked? I wonder if I should just tolerate the smelly tooth and wait for it to fall out? Please help!!!

My oral surgeon told me that I'll need a bone graft if I want to do an implant. the best option for me is a bridge.I am not in pain and I really want to hold on to this tooth. If my crown does come off and the tooth is cracked, why is it not possible to have the crown put back into my tooth until it flares up?? If I keep it for a year, how much bone will I lose? Why can't some kind of calcium peroxide?? be put into this tooth to heal it?? I just thought that since the lifespan for a bridge is 15 years, I'd delay it now since I am rather young. Maybe in a few years time, there's a way to heal a fine crack tooth. Please warn me of the risk I am taking if you are aware of any. Also, I am currently trying for a baby and am not sure this is the time to go through all these extensive dental work. Thank you for the answers. They have all been useful and yes, I have done an x-ray and it doesn't show. My oral surgeon suggested forcing it out but I refused as I worry he might crack my tooth.

Answer 1

HELLO,
IF THIS TOOTH WAS PREVIOUSLY ROOT-CANAL-ED AND AFTERWARD WAS CROWNED, AND NOW YOU HAVE A SMELLY, FOUL-TASTING LIQUID COMING FROM IT WITH A LOOSE CROWN. THE ROOT IS PROBABLY CRACKED. THE ONLY SOLUTION IS EXTRACTION. SINCE YOUR PRESENT DENTIST IS AFRAID OF BREAKING THE TOOTH FURTHER I WOULD SEE AN ORAL SURGEON.
THE BEST REPLACEMENT IN AN IMPLANT, BUT INSURANCE WON'T PAY FOR AN IMPLANT. THE NEXT CHOICE OF TREATMENT IS A BRIDGE.
ONLY HORIZONTAL FRACTURES CAN BE SEEN ON AN X-RAY. MOST FRACTURES OF FRONT TEETH ARE VERTICAL, AND NON-VISIBLE ON X-RAYS.
DON'T JUST TOLERATE YOUR SITUATION. HAVE THE ORAL SURGEON REMOVE THE CRACKED TOOTH.

Answer 2

This sounds like the work of an NHS dentist.

Judging by what he says he never bothered taking an x-ray. You need to visit a competent private dentist. If you want to save your teeth you must do this ASAP. By the way, you should put a complaint in about that quack. My wife is a dentist.

Answer 3

Heh, yawning. yup that'll do it. Actually it's an open bite, technically I think. That's if when you are biting your teeth together in back totally, your front teeth just don't come down far enough to touch the bottom teeth. But it comes with a lot of other things, like a overjet (when your top teeth kinda jet outwards/forwards of the bottom teeth) or crossbite (when the teeth don't match up side-to-side wise, you know.

Answer 4

See if you can find a department which houses a 3D CT scanner for the head. It's fantastic in visualising anything that needs the attention and detail. We have a unit here called the i-CAT, and one of our common uses for it is to visualise nerve canals around the wisdoms when the patient is in prep for surgical extractions.

Answer 5

You cant see many cracks in xrays so thats why he never did an xray.