Dental Crown Disaster

December 12, 2018 3:22 am | Published by
I had a dental crown placed on a tooth. It hurt from the beginning. I went in four times to have it adjusted and nothing seemed to work. I was tempted to give up, but every time I bit down it was excruciating. Then, one day, I’m out to lunch with friends and the stupid thing cracks while I’m eating. I was fed up with my dentist and no longer had much confidence in him. I went to see someone who advertised as an emergency dentist hoping he could just repair it. Instead, he said he would only do an entirely new crown. I’m at my wit’s end. Does that sound legitimate or is he taking advantage of the fact I’m in a bind? Carla Dear Carla, Porcelain crown being placed on a tooth I don’t blame you for not trusting your dentist. It sounds like he didn’t know what he was doing. Truth be told, he was probably counting on you giving up. Many patients do, feeling embarrassed about how many times they’ve complained. When there is pain when you are biting down with a crown, there are generally two reasons.
  • There is still an infection.
If your crown was due to a dental infection and root canal treatment, there is always a chance there is still an infection brewing. There are many canals and it is not unheard of for even very good dentists to miss one. Some of them hide quite well.
  • The crown is seated too high.
This is what I think was going on, though obviously, I haven’t examined you. It’s the cracking that makes me think that. Our biting force is pretty strong. Generally, that is spread over all of our back teeth. However, if a dental crown is seated too high, it takes the brunt of the force. That’s enough to break a crown.

Your Options with This Crown

You have a few options here. I don’t necessarily think the emergency dentist was trying to cheat you, but if you doubt his prognosis, you can always get a second opinion. For now, though, let’s assume he is right and the crown cannot be repaired. You can either allow the emergency dentist to redo your crown or give your original dentist a fourth? chance, though I’m not sure why you’d want to. Doing the crown with the second dentist would mean either paying for two crowns or getting a refund from your original dentist. You are perfectly within your rights for a full refund. The bare minimum lifespan for a dental crown is five years. You didn’t even get a few months out of yours. This blog is brought to you by Lake Oswego Dentist Dr. Mo Saleh.
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