Dental Post

by BJ Hall, answer by the Dentist
(Harriman)

After a root canal treatment and before a crown is put on the dentist may suggest that a dental post will be part of the treatment for a successful outcome. A natural question is therefore: "What is a dental post?"

Dental post sometimes has to be placed in the tooth after a root canal treatment. The root, and therefore the tooth, needs more surface to fasten the crown on it. The root canal treated tooth will sometimes lack enough surface or substance to have a crown placed on it in a proper way. (It may just fall off!) A dental post will enlarge the surface and the adherance area for the crown. This will stabilize the tooth and its crown. A root canal treated tooth will not always need a post before the crown is put on. The dentist will know in which cases this is necessary.

A "post", a kind of a rod, comes to life after the dentist has drilled a space for it in the root canal treated tooth, made an impression of it, and then have the technician make an individually customized rod, or a ready-to-use rod. The posts are usually made or a metal material. The dental post is then cemented in the canal space in the tooth's root. Now the dentist will take advantage of the enlarged surface to make a good and hopefully long-lasting crown treament for the endodontically treated tooth.

I hope this answered your question! Good luck with the dental post!

Best regards, the Dentist