A crown is a dental restoration that helps preserve the teeth’s functionality, shape, and size. Crowns protect highly susceptible teeth to fractures, especially after root canal treatments; they cover dental implants and close gaps between cracked teeth.
What happens when you have a broken or a fallen tooth crown? Find out below.
Are there any quick fixes for the patients until they visit a dentist?
One thing you can do is apply clove oil or dental cement directly to the tooth surface if it feels sensitive. This might help to relieve some pain and sensitivity. If you have the crown with you, it might be possible to slip it back over the tooth. But first, make sure that the inside of the crown is clean, and then you can apply tooth cement or dental adhesive paste. This is a temporary way out until you can visit your dentist.
How do dentists deal with broken tooth crowns?
A lost or fallen out crown is not much of an emergency. However, sometimes it can be very painful as the exposed tooth tissue might be sensitive if the tooth has a living pulp. It can cause a lot of discomforts psychologically or aesthetically if it is located within the anterior area.
What dentists normally do is ask the patient if they still have the crown. If so, after cleaning and examining both the remaining tooth structure and the crown, they ensure the core is not defective or decayed. If the clinical exam proves that the crown fits and will adapt well with the tooth structure, dentists might consider getting the crown ready for re-cementation.
However, this is not doable in some cases. When the crown is lost or broken, dentists advise to fit a temporary crown and, meanwhile, request a new tooth crown after completing the necessary preparation. Unfortunately, it might not be possible to restore the tooth in some cases, and they might go with other options such as extraction and implant replacement.
Post-surgery tips:
The immediate preventive post-surgery steps involve taking it easy for the first day, especially for some types of dental cements. It is best to avoid eating hard or sticky food to allow the cement adequate time to set.
If you’ve numbed up during previous dental treatments, you need to wait until the normal sensation comes back before eating anything. Otherwise, there’s the risk of biting your cheeks or your lips. Hopefully, the next day you can check your crown’s bite to ensure it feels right with every type of jaw movement.
If you’re uncomfortable, please let your dentist know about it to adjust and correct it as soon as possible. All of the above steps should be examined when looking after your new dental crowns.