Once a root canal is performed on a front tooth, is a crown necessary?

I clench my teeth at night. Apparently so hard that I caused irreparable damage to my front tooth (possibly teeth). My dentist tells me I don't need a crown because it's a front tooth. But, I've also heard that removing the root from a tooth makes it very brittle and can easily break/crumble. This is my front tooth; I'm extremely nervous about doing this correctly. I'm going to lose my dental insurance in a few months and want to do this the right way the first time. I had my first appointment for my root canal today. I'm going back in a couple weeks for them to fill it. The dentist has recommended that I wear a night guard to prevent any more clenching/grinding. I will wear it faithfully, but am still nervous about losing my front teeth. What should I do?
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It depends on how much tooth structure remains. In back teeth, a root canal really hollows out the top of the tooth, because the pulp chamber is pretty big. If a front tooth, there is usually a lot of tooth remaining around the perimeter of the tooth. My own rule is to recommend a crown on back teeth and, if the tooth is pretty much sound, to leave a front tooth without a crown. Besides... With a front tooth, when you grind the tooth down for a crown, you leave it weaker at the neck of the tooth - by the gum line - because you have made it thinner. I've seen enough front teeth break off INSIDE of crowns that were supposedly done to protect the tooth that I now judge on a tooth-by-tooth basis instead of by any rule book. If your dentist says not to get a crown, I'd go with that. Trust me... If you had to have a post and then a crown, the fee would be around $1,000 or more. If he's recommending against you paying him $1,000, you don't need it. In your case, with the grinding, I'd rather see you have a night guard to protect all of your teeth than a crown to protect just one.
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