Cracked tooth, can it be saved?

[crackedtooth]

I had a root canal  done at #5  13 years ago, it wasnt crowned, and now its cracked.. Got 2 xrays at hand if  somebody can take a look. Went to the first dentist   I could and she says it's too much hassle to put a crown on it now  ( that it will need to have an additional surgery done  to remove  small pieces of bone  to keep the crown steady, or something like that ) and says  it needs to be pulled .. The tooth  is solid   when I push it on one part, sensitive to pressure on the other

[Jerome Tsang, DDS]

Ok.  So the crack runs horizontally and not vertically it looks like.  Although I can't say for sure, the fact that it runs horizontally is better than a vertical crack since those can go below the gum.  It also depends on how much solid tooth structure you have left after they've removed all the damaged parts.  If its too little, a crown may not be a good option.  

Again, its not a clear cut situation but if you're looking at 5-7 years, it may last that long.  But always keep an eye on the bone levels of the jaw because a crack in the area can cause irritation to the jaw bone and result in bone loss.  If that occurs, placing an implant becomes more challenging later on.

[crackedtooth]

Thank you Dr Tsang, the crack is bad but visible,both by eye and xray, i put one xray as my avatar,and another in my profile under photos. The root seems to be fine...i,d really prefer to get a crown, can you please look at xray, if i get 5-7 years out of the crown,I,m happy

[Jerome Tsang, DDS]

It sounds like the tooth is severely cracked.  I think putting a crown on it may fix the problem but since its hard to detect the crack, its possible the crown may not work.  So there's no reliable way to predict what the best treatment is unfortunately.  If you don't want to take a chance on the crown and do a treatment that'll work, then extract it and get an implant