Questions about Dental crowns

MadDogWoman_2

Hi,

About 10 years ago I had a my top right 1st molar, root canalled following an abscess, in the January, the tooth fell apart in March.

Emergency visit to the dentist, a temporary crown was put in place as my dentist was going on holiday, which lasted 12 hours before falling out due to the way the tooth broke - the dentist warned me it probably wouldn't last.

I eventually had it crowned 3 weeks later.

If I'd had known about the possibilities of it breaking, I would have saved myself the pain and had it crowned then.

Holly25

Thanks for the replies, I'm going to stump up the cash to have it done asap. Might have to bite the bullet and put it on a 0% credit card.

Welsh Dent -I did need a root canal, its on the bottom left and if I smiled wide enough you would just about be able to see it, so I wouldnt want to have it extracted. It was just a tooth that the dentist drilled into too far (so she said) when she was doing a filling, it wasnt infected or anything but it did start to get really sensitive after she filled it in.

I had the root canal done private so not sure whether to have the crown done by the same guy, I suppose it would be sensible since he knows that tooth, but its very expensive. However, I dont want to go back to the NHS dentist who drilled into my tooth as she was awful.

Im sure that most NHS dentists are fine - more than fine even but this one was terrible. After years of having a lovely private denitst he retired so i went with the nhs one. I'd never had to have a single treatment previously but as soon as i went to her she told me i needed 4 fillings = possible i suppose.

She always did a rush job and never bothered explaining what she was doing. For example I didnt know that NHS fillings were black - so when i opened my mouth after the first two had been done i got a bit of a shock! She then said "oh yeah, you can have white ones but you have to pay extra!!!" So I asked for the next two to be done in white (at a cost of £80 each).

When I went back to have them done on a second visit, she started to try and give me a scale and polish. I asked her why she wasnt doing my fillings and it turned out that she had picked up a file for another patient and was trying to give me their treatment! After that I never went back.

When I went to a private dentist he said that the work that had been done was substandard and probably why I needed a rootcanal.

I wonder if I have grounds to complain?

Anyway, rant over! I dont want to scare anyone, Im sure my experience was pretty rare!

welshdent

Hi Holly my point was that if you want to save the tooth which you clearly do then get it done as per recommendations from your dentist. I am firmly in the camp that he is in as I recommend the same. Do it properly not cheaply (I mean as the crown obviously adds to the cost). If you dont want the crown then its probably not worth having it done in the first place IMO. There is a LOT of evidence to back up crowning the root filled tooth.

It isnt for me to comment on you feel you were treated. Obviously you are unhappy about them. But just to put the dentist hat on for a minute ... the dentist saying that they drilled too close to the nerve is more a turn of phrase. We only drill where there is decay and so the location of the decay governs this. Drilling close simply means the decay you had there was close to the nerve. You often develop what is called irreversible pulpitis which is basically pain. Thats not an infection but the treatment options are exactly the same ... extract or root filling.
Re the 4 fillings having not had any for years ... god I have experienced that SO many times. You take on someone new who has been seeing someone else for years ... tell them they have a load of work to do and you are immediately the bad guy (violins please!! )

It DOES happen. We are all only human and we do miss things. You original dentist may well have been monitoring things that the new dentist felt needed more invasive intervention. Hard to say why as we can not see you or your notes. However if you are in wales or england and the dentist seeing you as an NHS patient said you needed 4 fillings I am inclined to believe them because thjere system penalises you for doing more than one. SO financially all the incentives would have been there to only do one .. that make sense?

It does sound however you have found someone you get along with and that is great. NHS dentistry is highly un enjoyable for me and bears little resemblance to that which I was trained to do. I am somewhat fussy so try and do things as properly as I can ... the consequence is I take a massive hit to my earnings compared to others!!! Most of my colleagues see a comfortable 30 usually more patients a day. Some book 2 minute emergency appointments. It feels rushed because it IS rushed. They do not have time to stop and think half the time. My boss has very often seen 7 sometimes more people by 9.30 am - he starts at 8.30. Privately my friend sees that many people all morning. Also ... yes white fillings ARE privately provided as they always have been. White fillings in back teeth to my knowledge have never been available. Some people do them as a gesture of good will mind you (mugs like me normally! LOL)

Holly25

Welsh Dent - I see what you mean. I kinda always knew this was the case that I should have gone back for the crown almost straight away, afterall whats the point in shelling out all that time and money for the root canal and then not protecting it. I said to the dentist 'do I need a crown?' and he said, 'we'll have a look in a few weeks you might not need one' so I kind of assumed it'd be ok to leave it for a bit.

Anyway I have now arranged an appointment for him to look at it. They have a scheme where if you pay more than £500 on dental work then you can pay for it at 0% over 6 months, which I could probably just about mamange. After everythings sorted I may go on Denplan so I can look after my teeth properlly! I'm going to stick with the private dentist who did my rootcanal. I'm tempted to try another NHS dentist as a good one has been reccomended to me . However, I think its better to stop messing about and stick to one person who can get to know my teeth even if I would rather spend my money on shoes!

hethmar

Thing is Holly, you will find that the root filled tooth will go dark over a couple of years (mine did anyway) so you may aswell have it crowned now and probably save it for decades. I had one rootfilled which broke off at gum level One (NHS) dentist was all for whipping it out, luckily I got a second opinion and the new (private) dentist was wonderful and even though the root was fractured he managed to stabilise it and crown it. Thats over 3 years and its still fine.

welshdent

Holly the important thing to look at is do I trust the dentist I am seeing and am I happy with the service? Dentistry isnt an exact science so it can not be compared to going out and buying for example a mobile phone. IMHO allowing for the fact we are dealing the human body and no matter what we do sometimes things just dont work .... I find the better you look after your mouth and the better interventional work is carried out then the less likely it will be you will have problems. With that in mind it doesnt matter how expensive the private dentist is, you shouldnt really be needing his services anyway outside regular check ups and the odd clean

Bobble72

I have a gold crown which is over 30 years old. My gum has receded and become very sensitive and the crown itself very worn. The dentist has offered to replace the crown with either another gold crown or a composite crown. I am not sure which one to go for. I am thinking the composite crown might be less conspicuous.

brook2jack

In my mind there is still no material to compete with a well done gold crown. You lose less tooth in preparation and looked after well can last decades.

hethmar

Well, brook should know But if its at the back, well - youve had 30 years with that one so you can see what a good material it is. Ive got a back molar which has had a gold crown for 20 years now - no problem except that time I nicked one of the kids' rolos and wondered why it had a lump of metal in it :eek: but the dentist just got out the dents and put it back on.

Toothsmith

I try and persuade patients to have gold whenever possible.

It's the most biocompatible of all our materials, it needs the least tooth removal, and it lasts.

The 'better looking' materials don't last as long, which means they need replacing more often, which damages the tooth more, and makes it more likely you'll end up losing that tooth.