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Failure to care for our oral health leads to various repercussions including teeth affected by dental caries.  The restoration of a patient’s oral health often requires endodontic treatment or even extraction and replacement with a dental implant.  Among the factors to consider between performing an endodontic treatment or a dental implant treatment include the indications that each of the two treatments has, the prognosis that both treatments have, the respective long-term success rates and the economic factor.

In order to be able to offer the best alternatives for the patient and for the patient to be sure that his or her choice will be based on solid evidence and guided by the experience of our team of specialists, we will provide a brief description of the benefits of both alternatives so the patient may select the best alternative, since both maintaining and extracting the tooth have advantages and disadvantages.  Our objective is to consider the main questions that could arise so an informed decision can be made about the treatments that exist to save a tooth or replace it.

Dental implants are small titanium screws (they do not generate rejection by our body’s immune system) that fulfill the function of the natural teeth roots. You may have recently lost a tooth, or you may even have been without your tooth for several years, or you may be deciding between endodontic treatment or dental implants. We will list the benefits of dental implants so that we can help you in your decision.

Understand that technology is advancing by leaps and bounds and our clinic has all the alternatives that exist to avoid your discomfort or pain. The advantage of choosing dental implants is the safest option, since the prosthesis is attached to the bone, and not to other teeth like a bridge. Likewise, over time it prevents bone loss, and the chewing sensation is similar to that of a natural tooth, which leads to a longer duration, with survival rates above 90% in periods of 20-30 years. The most important thing about the election is the absence of pain. At no time during the procedure is pain or discomfort felt and, in most cases, the postoperative period involves less discomfort than other more common interventions in dentistry, it will also depend on the response of each organism. An important point to keep in mind is that the maintenance of the implants is similar to that needed by other teeth, which is why their hygiene has to be carried out in the same way as if they had natural teeth. 

We will begin by defining endodontic treatment, which is the removal of the pulp tissue or “nerve” that is located in the center of the tooth due to different causes such as deep caries or dental trauma (impacts), which leads to necrosis (death) of the dental pulp.  Endodontic treatment is performed in order to functionally preserve a tooth and the surrounding tissues, including the bone, whose pulp is damaged by caries, trauma or other pathologies. This treatment can be performed in one or two appointments depending on the tooth diagnosis.  A root canal and crown is also a somewhat lower cost alternative to dental implants.  

It is recommended to place a dental implant when the endodontic treatment is complicated or does not likely produce the result expected by the patient, or when repeating the root canal treatment (retreatment) or complementing it with a surgical treatment (apicoectomy) does not likely produce a durable result.  In endodontic treatment, as in any dental or medical treatment, there is no “lifetime guarantee.”  However, under normal conditions the success rate of root canals is very high; this may be somewhat lower in teeth that have complicated anatomical conditions or associated pathologies that are difficult to control. In both cases, our professionals recommend the option of dental implants, since we will provide a better success rate and thus you will be able to enjoy a better overall quality of oral health.

It is advisable to carry out an endodontic treatment in patients who present most of their teeth because occlusal stability will also favor the success rate of the treatment since the purpose of endodontic treatment is the conservation of the natural tooth, as well as the bone and gum that surrounds it, to maintain it functionally and aesthetically.

A root canal also promotes the regeneration of bone lost by infection, delaying the need to replace the tooth with prostheses or implants. Likewise, the economic factor is important to evaluate because implants often need more follow-up and maintenance, which entails a higher cost, to ensure their survival. It is clear that the majority of patients would prefer to keep their natural teeth rather than have a dental implant.