capped tooth - should this be replaced?

[GlasweJen]

I had an accident in the playground and snapped one of my adult teeth when I was only 8. When I was 10 the dentist put a cap on the tooth (it's one of my incisors right at the very front of the mouth). I'm now 22 and the cap has never been replaced. I'm not sure if this is because it doesn't need replacing or if it's due to me moving dentists a lot (dentist who fitted it moved out the area, new dentist wasn't bothered, we moved house, then i went to uni, took ages to find a dentist then moved house again) that no one has thought to replace the cap.

I had an x-ray in my mouth last year and nothing was mentioned about this tooth but to me it looks like the tooth underneat is going black??

any advice?

[Savvy_Sue]

Only your own dentist can answer this question, I'm afraid.

An internet dentist may be able to say "This kind of thing may last forever, or it may not, I usually find they're good for about X years" but that still doesn't help YOUR tooth.

[Toothsmith]

Exactly Sue.

If you don't mention it to the dentist, he will assume it doesn't bother you, and so as long as it seems OK, he won't do anything or discuss it with you.

If you actually ask your dentist, he'll be more than willing to discuss what's going on and possible options.

[GlasweJen]

Whenever I ask my dentist he just says that it's porcelain but i don't know what that means in terms of how well they wear.

[hethmar]

Do you mean there is a little gap at the top with something that looks black? That would seem to mean the cap has dropped/gum receded and it would be worth having a better one fitted if the look worries you.

Id say that NHS dentists tend not to worry about the aesthetics, they seem just to maintain rather than improve.

[coldstreamalways]

Whenever I ask my dentist he just says that it's porcelain but i don't know what that means in terms of how well they wear.


You could try saying "what does that mean?" and then "I'm not happy with the appearance of this tooth, is there anything you can do to improve it?"

If you want to see a dentist who really has the time to discuss everything with you, you don't want an NHS one. Their contracts mean they simply don't have the time to spend doing that.

[uberalles]

I had exactly the same situation, front tooth capped at 8, and then the dilemma you face.

I decided to have it renewed at the age of 25 and discovered that the part of tooth underneath the cap had become a very small sliver of tooth, and was really quite surprised how the cap stayed in place.

So a 'fixing ' post was fitted and a new cap placed over it.

I would urge this small caution that has been a problem for me since.

I need to go back to the dentist on average once every 18 months to have it refitted because it has come off. Quite an embarrassment at times.

I was advised by one dentist that the strong mix cement they were permitted to use 25 years ago is not permitted now.

I am currently on a newer approved extra strong mix and to its credit it has remained intact for a year.

Good Luck.

[hethmar]

Thats surprising - Ive had no probs with any of mine coming off.

[coldstreamalways]

Thats surprising - Ive had no probs with any of mine coming off.

You're both talking about different sorts of treatment. The "cap" that you would have had at age 8 is a build up of the tooth in a white filling material. DOne well these can be invisible. You can't have adult teeth permanently "crowned" (what Hethmar is talking about) at age 8 as they are only about 1/2 way erupted at that age.

The white fillings work really really well sometimes, other times they are a bug*er and come off all the time.

Permanent crowns (which are made in a lab on models of your teeth) are held on in a different way.

Discolouration on either of these restorations can be caused by lots of different things.

This is one good reason that the internet is not a good medium for discussing many aspects of dentistry.

[lavidaloca]

I had exactly the same situation, front tooth capped at 8, and then the dilemma you face.

I decided to have it renewed at the age of 25 and discovered that the part of tooth underneath the cap had become a very small sliver of tooth, and was really quite surprised how the cap stayed in place.

So a 'fixing ' post was fitted and a new cap placed over it.

I would urge this small caution that has been a problem for me since.

I need to go back to the dentist on average once every 18 months to have it refitted because it has come off. Quite an embarrassment at times.

I was advised by one dentist that the strong mix cement they were permitted to use 25 years ago is not permitted now.

I am currently on a newer approved extra strong mix and to its credit it has remained intact for a year.

Good Luck.

I have a similar problem. My dentist said the small sliver of tooth underneath has split and needs to come out. This means a cost of over £200 for a single denture. Then if my jaw bone is ok minimum of £2500.00 for an implant. I can't afford this.

I was so depressed about it all that I had him re-cement the crown at beginning of December but it is already coming loose.

Sorry to hijack your thread! You need to see your dentist again to ask about the blackness. I am mid 50s and had mine crowned at 14 and then again in my mid 30's so I think the question of how long do they last differs from person to person.

[hethmar]

You're both talking about different sorts of treatment. The "cap" that you would have had at age 8 is a build up of the tooth in a white filling material. DOne well these can be invisible. You can't have adult teeth permanently "crowned" (what Hethmar is talking about) at age 8 as they are only about 1/2 way erupted at that age.



Permanent crowns (which are made in a lab on models of your teeth) are held on in a different way.


But I thought the baby cap had been taken off and then a post and crown fitted?

"
So a 'fixing ' post was fitted and a new cap placed over it."

I have a couple of those and had no probs with them? My others are fitted over my own teeth.

[coldstreamalways]

Baby cap? I don't understand your last message. Who mentioned posts?

[hethmar]

The person who said the cap kept falling off.

"So a 'fixing ' post was fitted and a new cap placed over it."

[Teerah]

You're both talking about different sorts of treatment. The "cap" that you would have had at age 8 is a build up of the tooth in a white filling material. DOne well these can be invisible. You can't have adult teeth permanently "crowned" (what Hethmar is talking about) at age 8 as they are only about 1/2 way erupted at that age.

The white fillings work really really well sometimes, other times they are a bug*er and come off all the time.

Permanent crowns (which are made in a lab on models of your teeth) are held on in a different way.

Discolouration on either of these restorations can be caused by lots of different things.

This is one good reason that the internet is not a good medium for discussing many aspects of dentistry.

Although not recommended nowadays, I have seen crowns done at such an early age in years gone by so its not inconceivable that both posters are talking about the same thing albeit one involving a post and one not. Thats how I read it anyhow

[hethmar]

Well, it really doesnt matter - lol - the point was that the cap/crown or whatever really shouldnt be falling off on such a regular basis surely.

I think Id be a bit scared of going to coldstreams surgery! :eek: I like a lot more chairside charm :) as does bluemonkey :D

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1421193


(http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1416021)