Greetings Konrad

I had to get 6 root canals due to an auto accident back in 1980. They were done by an endodontist, and the fillings were done by my dentist. One tooth was too far gone and only lasted a couple years. Then the bridge came about. The other 5 root canals are still intact. I'm also 62, and hope they last the rest of my life. Not too bad of an investment considering the cost back then.

I had 1 root canal when I was 21 no crown, just filled it in after cleaning it out & getting rid of infection as it didn't "discolor" 2 yrs ago I had some crowns around it so had it crowned too as had darkened a little. I'm in early 70's. Have 4 other root canal/crowns for years. Should last you!

I have many done, they last a life-time. Best done by a group of endo-dentists who specialize in root canal. I would choose a middle-age person, not too young, not too old, and board-certified.

That's good news...I switched my dentist this year and think he's good, middle aged, slower then most dentist, meticulous, does know what he's doing. According to him, my last dentist didn't do a good job on the one molar with crown, the canal wasn't done all the way down, [lengths] of root and thinks it might have to be redone for no further complication down the road. Since I have no dental insurance I only want to do the minimum required. As you know, most molars should have a crown after root canal but I want to hold it off for a while also. Perhaps not such a good idea,..hopefully they don't brake, my guess is this...allot of grinding around the tooth need to be done to fit the crown, leaving a stump, when the time comes, [breaking] I'll do the crown?

Yea...hopefully not broken through the middle!

Tooth I just had removed I don't know if it was "dead" or not but he had to cut that molar in 3 sections & struggled to get them out. It had rotted under a crown yet it was still the most difficult he had done in a long time. he told his new assistant fresh graduated from dental school that he normally would send case like mine to a specialist but since I an a very long time patient he did it. The pieces looked like triangles, still trying to figure that out. Sounds like you have a good dentist Konrad, but on molar might be wise to have the crown put on because if tooth gets weak might not be able to crown it then & that means puling it & bridge or hole in mouth. You are only 62 so you want to be able to chew & enjoy food for many more years. My dead tooth was an "eye" tooth.

While I know this thread is important to the original poster and the others who've kindly responded, it makes me really worried about my trouble tooth. :)

I wonder whether it's worth going to a foreign country to get a root canal? Are they cheaper in Mexico? Canada? Colombia?

Bostonoak: I used to work as a dental assistant in an endodontic office. There are complications if NOT done right ....need a specialist who does thousands of that. There's a woman who went to a regular dentist to get root-canal done, the fillings broke and caused her face to be abscessed.

I would go for a board-certified group of endo-dentists. The group that I used to work with ... all are board-certified, and they gave discounts to poor people.

bostonoak, my wife just had a root canal and crown in Chile. She was in and out in three hours at a cost of $800. This was at a high-tech office that was able to produce the crown while she waited. We just happened to be in Chile, but the savings more than paid for the air fare. I have heard that Belize is a good place for dental work. It is close and they speak English. I don't have any direct experience.