Dental Help required please

Bobble72

Part of the back of my front tooth crown has come off and I am going on holiday on Friday. I am unlikely to get an appointment at my NHS dentist before then, have tried in the past and failed. I would be very grateful for any suggestions I had thought of buying a tube of superglue?

j.e.j.

Bobble72 wrote: »

I had thought of buying a tube of superglue?

:eek: not sure whether superglue would be hygienic/non-toxic! Hopefully there's something else you can use that'd be safe for using in your mouth.

I know you say in the past you've not managed to get an appointment with your nhs dentist at such short notice, but you've nothing to lose by giving them a call? You never know, they might have a cancellation.

You could also try nhs direct, - I think they have a bit that deals with dentistry.

art_for_arts_sake

You need to either have a temporary crown fitted or failing that you could buy some temporary filling material if the tooth is exposed. Superglue could make the whole tooth shear off as the glue is stronger than the tooth itself, and even getting the position of the crown slightly wrong will put an uneven load on your tooth with the same result.

brook2jack

art_for_arts_sake wrote: »

You need to either have a temporary crown fitted or failing that you could buy some temporary filling material if the tooth is exposed. Superglue could make the whole tooth shear off as the glue is stronger than the tooth itself, and even getting the position of the crown slightly wrong will put an uneven load on your tooth with the same result.

Slightly wrong information here. Superglue has a great big skull and crossbones on the pack. You wouldn't normally willingly put something toxic in the mouth. Additionally it is no good for repairs in the mouth because it is water soluble, it certainly is not stronger than tooth and will not cause a tooth to shear off but yes a crown cemented in the wrong place can cause a tooth to shear. The other big thing with superglue is NEVER use it to repair dentures as A it doesn't work well and B once a denture is superglued it cannot be repaired professionally and you will need new dentures. Not very money saving when a denture repair is free on the nhs.

Phone your dentist , explain you are going on holiday you may be lucky. Emergency dental services will not normally regard this as a dental emergency so it is unlikely you will have success there.

Dental cement kits such as toofy pegs etc are very good for temporary replacement of fillings or temporary cement of crowns but hardly ever stick well enough to replace a broken bit of crown. So in other words phone your dentist and see what they suggest.

Bobble72

Many thanks for your replies I will try to get hold on my dentist on Monday, fingers crossed.

art_for_arts_sake

brook2jack wrote: »

Slightly wrong information here. Superglue has a great big skull and crossbones on the pack. You wouldn't normally willingly put something toxic in the mouth. Additionally it is no good for repairs in the mouth because it is water soluble, it certainly is not stronger than tooth and will not cause a tooth to shear off but yes a crown cemented in the wrong place can cause a tooth to shear. The other big thing with superglue is NEVER use it to repair dentures as A it doesn't work well and B once a denture is superglued it cannot be repaired professionally and you will need new dentures. Not very money saving when a denture repair is free on the nhs.

Phone your dentist , explain you are going on holiday you may be lucky. Emergency dental services will not normally regard this as a dental emergency so it is unlikely you will have success there.

Dental cement kits such as toofy pegs etc are very good for temporary replacement of fillings or temporary cement of crowns but hardly ever stick well enough to replace a broken bit of crown. So in other words phone your dentist and see what they suggest.

Au contraire. 2-octyl cyanoacrylate is a recognised medical adhesive. It should not be used for dental repairs for the reasons stated. All of the information I gave was on the advice of a registered dental practitioner.

brook2jack

Cyanoacrylate is only a medical adhesive for use on skin not on mucous membranes as eg found in the mouth.

Apart from the fact it is toxic it is not used in the mouth because it is eventually water soluble and has an exothermic reaction (gives out heat) and is highly irritant to the pulp (nerve). Moreover unlike other specialist dental cements (glue) it does not bond either to enamel or dentine.

Crucially its shear strength is less than that of tooth. Tooth is harder than any substance in the body including bone. The average tooth takes the pressure equivalent to an elephants foot every time you eat. As superglue does not bond to tooth all that will happen is the glue will pull off the tooth , as it cannot chemically bond to tooth. Putting superglue on cannot ,of itself shear a tooth.

The difficulty happens when people use it to glue a crown in and it sets half way in. Then there is some mechanical retention and the force of the bite may cause the tooth to break.

The one thing superglue does bond with is acrylic which is what is used in dentures. So once dentures are superglued they cannot be repaired, and as superglue has weak shear strength and is water soluble the dentures will break again and a new set will have to be made as once superglued they are unrepairable as new acrylic will not bond to the superglued bits.

Moral of story is don't use superglue for anything in the mouth, it's toxic , useless and can cause expensive problems.

art_for_arts_sake

OK, I stand corrected. I didn't even suggest superglue could or should be used in the mouth, and a whole tooth is of course harder than glue. The OP was asking for advice, and having a registered dental practitioner to hand I got it. They'd had personal experience of patients using superglue :eek: so were aware of the damage :eek: it can do. It's debatable whether or not an already weakened tooth is likely to be damaged by the application of superglue, but that's unlikely to be an issue if the OP has any sense. A temporary crown or filling material, either by a dentist or failing that an over-the-counter temporary filling was the advice being offered, which I stand by.

Superglue is pretty amazing stuff, but I wouldn't for a moment suggest applying it to exposed dentine. It is useful in the medical field, but it's clearly not favoured by the dental profession for obvious reasons. I use it a lot professionally, you need to be a dab hand at using it in humid or damp conditions as moisture makes it set rapidly so I can see why it was adopted as a medical adhesive. It makes a great small-scale filler for fine cracks especially when bicarbonate of soda is sprinkled on it which also promotes rapid setting.

But , and I can't emphasise this enough, do not apply it to your teeth.