I’ve had a few dental crowns for a while now. I think about 13 or 14 years. One has always had a slight defect you could only notice if there was really bright light and you were staring directly at it. Recently, things have changed. Now you can feel and see the defect pretty easily. It is like a horizontal crack. I am assuming I will need to replace it. What I am wondering though is if whether I will need to schedule an emergency appointment or just wait it out. Any chance you can advise me?
Darren
Dear Darren,
I do believe you’ll need to replace it sooner rather than later, but I would not necessarily consider it a dental emergency where you have to call the dentist today. These tiny defects are not uncommon and it seems yours lasted a good long while. I would schedule an appointment with the dentist. Don’t let him pressure you into replacing all of them if only this one needs replacing.
It is pretty tricky to match a single dental crown to the remainder of your teeth. Sometimes a dentist, with little confidence in their skill to do it will try to convince the patient to replace more than is necessary. If you think they’ll need replacing soon and just want to get it over with then go ahead, but don’t let anyone simply pressure you into it.
One thing to be aware of if you are just replacing one is to make certain the dentist does a temporary try-on of the crown and allows you to see it in several different lights to be certain it matches well. If it doesn’t, the crown needs to go back to the lab. It is perfectly normal for it to require two or three try ins before it matches perfectly, so don’t worry about asking him or her to try again.
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