Brian,

I definately agree with you and my philosophy is that it is almost always better to save a tooth than extract and replace it. This goes for any patient, with or without having been subjected to radiation.

As far as root canals, posts and crowns are concerned, in John's case if we assume that there is an option of saving the tooth i.e. there is enough tooth left to restore it and that endodontic treatment is possible, this would certainly be a better option than extraction.

Given that this is the case, after the root canal is completed, a post is placed in one of the canals. There are many types of posts, some of which are made in a laboratory and some of which are prefabricated and come in a kit. The crown can then be made by a dental technician after an impression is taken or the whole procedure, post and crown, can be made in the dental office with a CAD/CAM out of a block of porcelain. I've been doing crowns this new way for about 7 months and they have been very succesful.

Jerry