A post crown is your own root-treated tooth in which a post inside the root canal holds the core for the crown. It is an option when too little of the tooth crown is left to hold a crown securely. A well-restored post crown lasts many years.
Updated: 14 November 2026
- Post crown means: your own root, a post, a core, a crown.
- An implant is something different: there a screw replaces the root.
- If a post crown is loose, it is not automatically lost.
When a post is needed
Less often than many people think. If enough healthy tooth remains after the root canal treatment, we bond the core directly, without a post. A post, today usually made of glass fibre, holds the core when the walls of the tooth are largely missing.
How long it lasts
That depends mainly on two things: whether the root canals are tightly filled, and whether the crown embraces healthy tooth all the way round. Without this rim, the chewing forces act directly on the root.
“My post crown is loose. Is it lost?”
Not necessarily. Often only the crown or the post has come loose. Then it can be re-cemented. If the root has cracked, it is a different story. A look under the microscope shows the difference.
Were you told your post crown can no longer be saved? We take a look in a second opinion.
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