Questions about Dental crowns

Mrsmoneypenny

My husband has just come back from the dentist, while he was there he was told that his white (composite) filling had shrunk!! And that they dont last as long as an amalgam filling.

Unlike Toothsmith i am not a dentist and this was all news to my husband and we now wish we had had that bit of knowledge before deciding to do the work. I have looked it up on the internet since and it does say that they can shrink.

Perhaps Toothsmith may be along soon and clear up the question.

If my husband had know this at the time of having his amalgams taken out and replaced he may have chosen not to do it at all.

Dont want to hijack your thread, i have posted a thread earlier then saw yours, so thought i would mention it.

TomandBarbara

Mrsmoneypenny wrote: »

My husband has just come back from the dentist, while he was there he was told that his white (composite) filling had shrunk!! And that they dont last as long as an amalgam filling.

Unlike Toothsmith i am not a dentist and this was all news to my husband and we now wish we had had that bit of knowledge before deciding to do the work. I have looked it up on the internet since and it does say that they can shrink.

Perhaps Toothsmith may be along soon and clear up the question.

If my husband had know this at the time of having his amalgams taken out and replaced he may have chosen not to do it at all.

Dont want to hijack your thread, i have posted a thread earlier then saw yours, so thought i would mention it.

I'll let you off!!!! Didn't know about them shrinking, I don't have any white ones but my partner always has them as not got many fillings unlike me who has a mouth full

Mrsmoneypenny

Toothsmith got back to my post - amalgam/composite filling.

You may want to look at it, or there again you might not. LOL.

It has quite surprised me.

TomandBarbara

Mrsmoneypenny wrote: »

Toothsmith got back to my post - amalgam/composite filling.

You may want to look at it, or there again you might not. LOL.

It has quite surprised me.

Thanks I'll take a look.

TomandBarbara

Well I went to the dentist. They did say an option was to build the tooth up with a filling but it would'nt be a white one. I've had 3 fillings (!) 2 being patch up jobs and one new one plus she has 'patched' up the one that needs something doing to it.
go back in 6 months so will need to have a long hard think about the crown....plus have cut out the sugar in my tea ( I've had 2 sugars in my tea for as long as I remember!!!

capomeister

Just phoned around trying to get an appointment as I'm having pain in one of my crowned teeth. They told me it'll be £195 to have a "metal" crown on a back-tooth. Gold will be £300+ as it's not available on the NHS. Is this true? Is the metal they use strong and as good as gold? I don't want to get ripped off here. I hope they can do some repair and I don't need a new crown as £100s to repair one tooth on the NHS is high!

Toothsmith

Phoning round for prices is no good when you don't know what's wrong.

A crown is a lump of metal. If you already have a lump of metal in your mouth, it doesn't grow nerves, so pain doesn't mean there's something wrong with that lump of metal. Thre's something going on with either the tooth underneath it, or a tooth in that vacinity.

Seeing a good dentist is better than seeing an NHS one, so look for a good dentist. If that dentist happens to do NHS, then all well and good, but in these days, that's not an automatic 'given'.

capomeister

Toothsmith wrote: »

Phoning round for prices is no good when you don't know what's wrong.

A crown is a lump of metal. If you already have a lump of metal in your mouth, it doesn't grow nerves, so pain doesn't mean there's something wrong with that lump of metal. Thre's something going on with either the tooth underneath it, or a tooth in that vacinity.

Seeing a good dentist is better than seeing an NHS one, so look for a good dentist. If that dentist happens to do NHS, then all well and good, but in these days, that's not an automatic 'given'.

Thanks for this advice, Toothsmith. Alas it isn't easy knowing how to find a decent dentist. I'll see the emergency NHS dentist this afternoon and see what she says and how she seems. The crowned tooth still has roots so I am concerned they may have flared up (I've had problems with this tooth before and was advised to leave root filling as long as I could, as on upper teeth at the back the filling doesn't always hold so well). Food is getting caught around the area so perhaps the tooth around the crown had chipped, and it could be a gum problem. Hoping this emergency NHS dentist is good and doesn't try and rip me off. I really thought gold crowns were still available on the NHS and the price wasnt so high (I was quoted about £50 for an NHS root filling 2 years ago). Thanks again for your helpful advice, Toothsmith

chromanoid

Hi Guys

I have two teeth that really need crowning - one is a middle tooth that is half chipped off at the gumline and half ok ... and one back tooth it had a large filling which filled almost the entire tooth thats fallen out and there isn't much of a shell around it.

My question is i have read about posts in teeth during root canal and then a base built up around them to crown it. I don't mean a fused metal implant into bone, i mean a post crown into real teeth core. Is this done on the NHS at all or what would be the cost private? I'd really like them both crown and think that would be the only way as there is no substantial middle part to either teeth to crown it normally.

If not, what else can the dentist do on NHS, i'd prefer to save these teeth.

Thanks

Toothsmith

Post crowns should be available on the NHS if appropriate and necessary.

Can't really make any further comment as I've no idea what would be appropriate for you without seeing you.