crown a wisdom tooth?

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Shhinda - 13 Oct 2005 21:44 GMT

A while back my husband (age 45) developed a cavity in one of his wisdom
teeth. His dentist suggested he have oral surgery to remove all of his
wisdom teeth (no problems with any of them other than the 1 cavity). He
balked at that idea, and I did some research and concluded that if you have
your wisdom teeth as an adult, keep them. He decided just to have the
cavity filled, but procrastinated. Fast forward a year or so and now the
dentist says he needs a crown. Wouldn't it be silly to crown a tooth that
they previously said should be removed? And if so, wouldn't it be ok (less
expensive as well) just to pull that one tooth since it is not impacted in
any way instead of undergoing oral surgery on all four teeth?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

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Steven Bornfeld - 13 Oct 2005 22:29 GMT

> A while back my husband (age 45) developed a cavity in one of his wisdom
> teeth. His dentist suggested he have oral surgery to remove all of his
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>
> Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Esp. if the nerve is involved by decay, I would lean strongly toward
extracting the tooth. The only mitigating factor for me is if the first
and second molars in front of that wisdom tooth are in poor shape either
restoratively or periodontally.
Root canals have a higher failure rate in wisdom teeth, both because
they tend to have funky canals and also because access for treatment is
difficult. This is a lot of dentistry to go through for a tooth of
questionable importance.

Steve

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Joel M. Eichen - 15 Oct 2005 10:39 GMT

>A while back my husband (age 45) developed a cavity in one of his wisdom
>teeth. His dentist suggested he have oral surgery to remove all of his
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>
>Any input would be greatly appreciated.

How is the nerve? Ususally delay causes root canal problems.

Joel

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