Objectives: A better outcome has been shown for teeth restored with laboratory-fabricated crowns. This may not necessarily imply that full crowns are better than direct restorations, as it may be a result of selection bias. The aim was to describe the decision process regarding the choice of coronal restoration on a root-filled tooth from the perspective of the dentist. Methods: A strategic selection of 15 general dental practitioners (GDPs) in Sweden was performed. An absolute inclusion criterion was that the dentist had a recent experience of root canal treatments followed by a decision concerning permanent coronal restoration. The included dentists provided a variation concerning gender, age, work experience, location of undergraduate education and dental service provider. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with focus on the personal experience of the informant when choosing how to permanently restore the root-filled tooth. The informants were invited to, in their own words, narrate on the two latest occasions when this situation occurred for direct and full crown restorations respectively. The interviews were verbatim transcribed and then analyzed according to Qualitative Content Analysis, to be classified into an overall theme covering the latent content together with categories and subcategories illustrating the manifest content. Results: Preliminary results indicate a pattern, not yet definitely classified, but revealing the GDPs' efforts to take their current theoretical knowledge and clinical experience into consideration in the decision-making process together with an assessment of the residual tooth substance and the patients' oral health conditions. This is done parallel to an evaluation of and with certain emphasis to the patients' economic situation and preferences. Conclusions: The general dental practitioners' decision-making process regarding the choice of coronal restoration on a root-filled tooth was based not only on clinical factors: decisive for the decision was contextual factors comprising a patient centered approach.