Procedures
Cracked Teeth
Teeth can develop fractured cusps, be cracked or split, or have a vertical root fracture. Some of these teeth are treatable if detected early. Others may have damage such that they are not treatable and may need extraction. Here is another superb AAE link that will illustrate with drawings what it means to have a cracked tooth.
Superficial tooth cracks are very common, and relatively easy to detect when examined under magnification.
The important issue: Is the dental pulp involved and how deep does this crack travel?
This damage cannot be seen with x-ray images, whether digital or not. Even with examining these teeth from the inside with high magnification, strong lighting, and special dyes for detection, it is sometimes difficult to determine the extent of a crack.
Root canal treatment addresses a diseased dental pulp. It does not fix a deep running crack in the tooth.
If it is felt that your tooth has a crack, the doctor will explain why he suspects this and what the options are. Assessing the degree of damage in these teeth is not an exact science. The problem with a deep crack is that bacteria can hide within it. This makes them impossible to remove. The resulting infection will never go away, regardless of treatment or antibiotics. Unfortunately, these damaged teeth need to be extracted.
After endodontics, ALL posterior teeth need protective crowns. This is even more urgent when there is marginal damage due to superficial cracks.