I have a dental crown after a root canal treatment. There wasn’t much tooth left so I guess that’s why my crown fell off this evening. I have two questions. 1. Is this a dental emergency? and 2. Will it stay on if it’s cemented again or is this something I should expect to happen regularly?
Jimmy
Dear Jimmy,
The tooth in the photo above has plenty of structure for the dentist to bond to. However, with some root canal treatments and massive decay, there isn’t enough. It is still better to save the tooth if at all possible. If you extract it, then you need to replace it.
The best replacement, a dental implant, requires surgery. Any other replacement will result in some bone loss where the root of the tooth was. Saving the tooth prevents all of that. Fortunately, there’s a way to do just that.
Your dentist will need to remove the root canal material and then install a fiberglass post about 2/3 of the way in. From there composite material will be used to build the tooth up to what would be a normal crown preparation when there is tooth left. Then the crown can be bonded back on.
Is Losing a Crown a Dental Emergency?
When a dental crown falls off, it is not necessarily a dental emergency which has to be seen that day. That being said, you don’t want to leave it for more than a day or two.
There is an important reason for that. Your teeth which are next to the missing crown will begin to shift into the open space. If you wait too long, the crown will no longer fit into the space and have to be completely re-made.
So, no, you don’t have to rush to the dentist, but don’t procrastinate either.
This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.