How quickly should I get a crown after a root canal?

As soon as possible!

So your dentist has told you to get a crown after your root canal. Should you wait? In my opinion, it is better to get it done as soon as possible.

Why do you need a crown after a root canal?

This is the first question we need to consider and we will see why the suggestion is to get it as soon as possible. There are two main reasons why you had a root canal; it was either a crack in the tooth, or a deep and large cavity. Both of these situations mean that your tooth is significantly weakened and therefore at risk of fracturing, especially high risk is a cracked tooth. A crown is designed to wrap around the remaining parts of your tooth, to hold it together and minimise splitting forces within your tooth. Imagine you are trying to open a walnut that has a tightly fitting metal case. It would be extremely difficult! A dental crown is made out of metal, porcelain or a combination of both.

Why get the crown as soon as possible?

Since the purpose of the crown is to prevent fracture of your tooth, the sooner the crown is done, the less the risk of fracture. Fractures happen from chewing and biting, as there as forces acting on the tooth.

Why wait for a crown?

There are some situations where we are not confident whether the root canal will be successful. A crown is significant in expense and effort to make, and if we end up needing to extract your tooth within a short time, that would be very much a waste! In such situations, I would generally wait 6-12 months to confirm the success of the root canal.