Wellness

[twinkies]

My dentist said you cannot put a crown on a tooth that has a crack in it, Has anyone else heard that ,?

cathy from ma

[gazelle77]

On 8/26/2014 twinkies said:

My dentist said you cannot put a crown on a tooth that has a crack in it, Has anyone else heard that ,?

cathy from ma

you can do conservative temporary fixes that may hold the tooth for a while. Root canal is like the last resort fix and the worst. crowned teeth are headed for root canal anyway, it is just a waiting game...... will they out live you or will you out live them....

[Windycity]

Oddly enough, I had to have a tooth removed yesterday. It had an old amalgam filling and it was right next to a back tooth that recently received a replacement ceramic crown. My dentist creates these and puts them in in under one hour - no temp ever! Temps never worked for me and were always out within 24 hours.

The tooth I lost was cracked plus had an infection within it - he showed it to me in all it's gory detail. The pain I have suffered from cracked/fractured teeth or abcessed teeth is the worst pain ever and at least once the tooth is out, the pain is gone. He gave me the usual options, including an implant 4-6 months down the road. I already have implants in various places in my mouth. Especially highly noticeable places. Implants around this area are around $2500 and my dental insurance (Dearborn) will typically pay less than $700.00. At this point in my life, I do not think I will opt for an implant or anything else. That particular quadrant has always felt too tight to me and difficult to floss.

For now I am fine without pain. He stitched in a collagen sphere into the space vacated by the tooth. This will help make sure the clot does not dislodge. Hope not to visit him again soon.

PS: Neither the oral surgeon or dentist would crown a tooth having any type of initial fracture to begin with.

[LilacTree]

On 8/17/2014 feef said:

Boy do I understand what you are going through. Had two implants, two crowns, plus I am losing bone in my lower jaw. I had cadaver bone put in to help. We have excellent insurance and we were still having to pay out $10,000. I just broke a tooth and have been putting off calling my dentist. I know it will be thousands of dollars to do a implant and crown.

It never ends, still counting my blessings.

Please do yourself a favor and look into discount dental plans. Many dentists belong to them, but they won't say that unless you ask. Just google "discount dental plans" and you will see many sites to choose from. I chose my current dentist from a site there (Dental1) and am currently having work done. Depending upon who you choose, the discounts are anywhere from 40-70%. You do have to pay cash as you go. Ask your current dentist if he participates in any of these plans. You could save a lot of money if he does. If he doesn't, then perhaps consider looking at the plans . . . they all have lists of participating dentists according to zip code. It might be worth your while to change dentists.

[Annabellethecat66]

You aren't alone. About 2 years ago I went to a dentist (my dentist's wife divorced him and he sold his practice). I got my teeth cleaned every 6 months, didn't have a cavity. It took me 1 year to find a new dentist I liked.

I went to my daughter's dentist and said, "I am worried. I think I might be getting some bad gum issues". He said, "Almost every tooth in your head has some kind of cavity".

It seems because of my 'dry mouth' issues (caused by my medicine) I had major cavities.

Move forward to now. I'm still paying and getting things done to my mouth. I have the most amazing dentist in the world. He cares more about me and my teeth than the money I owe him.

I have paid more than $8,000 to get my mouth straightened out. I remember like it was yesterday when he showed me the cavities and stuff (no gum problems). I sat and cried.

He is still working on my mouth because (although on my own I cut back on the medicine and one of my Drs gave me medicine that increases the amount of salavia in my mouth) it is still dry, better but dry.

OK, here's my point. You need to have a better feeling about all of this. Realize you live in a world where all of this can be fixed. If we lived even 10-15 years ago they wouldn't have been able to fix these teeth.

So, wipe your tears and realize how lucky we both are. That's what I do.

[lulu2]

On 8/26/2014 Windycity said:

Oddly enough, I had to have a tooth removed yesterday. It had an old amalgam filling and it was right next to a back tooth that recently received a replacement ceramic crown. My dentist creates these and puts them in in under one hour - no temp ever! Temps never worked for me and were always out within 24 hours.

The tooth I lost was cracked plus had an infection within it - he showed it to me in all it's gory detail. The pain I have suffered from cracked/fractured teeth or abcessed teeth is the worst pain ever and at least once the tooth is out, the pain is gone. He gave me the usual options, including an implant 4-6 months down the road. I already have implants in various places in my mouth. Especially highly noticeable places. Implants around this area are around $2500 and my dental insurance (Dearborn) will typically pay less than $700.00. At this point in my life, I do not think I will opt for an implant or anything else. That particular quadrant has always felt too tight to me and difficult to floss.

For now I am fine without pain. He stitched in a collagen sphere into the space vacated by the tooth. This will help make sure the clot does not dislodge. Hope not to visit him again soon.

PS: Neither the oral surgeon or dentist would crown a tooth having any type of initial fracture to begin with.

You are lucky your insurance pays something for an implant. Our insurances pays to have the tooth pulled and nothing for the implant. Here the entire procedure is $5000. Then of course there is the crown. I had one done a few years ago and have been completely satisfied with the procedure. I recently had a second tooth pulled and will have the implant in December.

My husband will have an implant next week.

We are both in our 60's and children of the mercury/amalgam filling era. There is always something needing attention in one or both of our mouths.

[Lucky Charm]

I, unfortunately, had a bone graft to accept an upper implant (tooth pulled decades ago) and it didn't take.

Two attempts were made and my body rejected it. It wasn't cadaver bone.

The office clerk didn't even have a code to use for bone graft removal on my chart.

I don't know where we're going from here.....

[muttmom]

On 8/26/2014 Lucky Charm said:

I, unfortunately, had a bone graft to accept an upper implant (tooth pulled decades ago) and it didn't take.

Two attempts were made and my body rejected it. It wasn't cadaver bone.

The office clerk didn't even have a code to use for bone graft removal on my chart.

I don't know where we're going from here.....

When I had a bone graft for an implant, my oral surgeon used bovine. He said almost 25% of cadaver bone grafts fail. Also an upper implant is trickier as it can interfere with sinuses.

[lulu2]

On 8/26/2014 muttmom said:

On 8/26/2014 Lucky Charm said:

I, unfortunately, had a bone graft to accept an upper implant (tooth pulled decades ago) and it didn't take.

Two attempts were made and my body rejected it. It wasn't cadaver bone.

The office clerk didn't even have a code to use for bone graft removal on my chart.

I don't know where we're going from here.....

When I had a bone graft for an implant, my oral surgeon used bovine. He said almost 25% of cadaver bone grafts fail. Also an upper implant is trickier as it can interfere with sinuses.

Our oral surgeon used bovine on my husband.

[Windycity]

On 8/26/2014 lulu2 said:

On 8/26/2014 Windycity said:

Oddly enough, I had to have a tooth removed yesterday. It had an old amalgam filling and it was right next to a back tooth that recently received a replacement ceramic crown. My dentist creates these and puts them in in under one hour - no temp ever! Temps never worked for me and were always out within 24 hours.

The tooth I lost was cracked plus had an infection within it - he showed it to me in all it's gory detail. The pain I have suffered from cracked/fractured teeth or abcessed teeth is the worst pain ever and at least once the tooth is out, the pain is gone. He gave me the usual options, including an implant 4-6 months down the road. I already have implants in various places in my mouth. Especially highly noticeable places. Implants around this area are around $2500 and my dental insurance (Dearborn) will typically pay less than $700.00. At this point in my life, I do not think I will opt for an implant or anything else. That particular quadrant has always felt too tight to me and difficult to floss.

For now I am fine without pain. He stitched in a collagen sphere into the space vacated by the tooth. This will help make sure the clot does not dislodge. Hope not to visit him again soon.

PS: Neither the oral surgeon or dentist would crown a tooth having any type of initial fracture to begin with.

You are lucky your insurance pays something for an implant. Our insurances pays to have the tooth pulled and nothing for the implant. Here the entire procedure is $5000. Then of course there is the crown. I had one done a few years ago and have been completely satisfied with the procedure. I recently had a second tooth pulled and will have the implant in December.

My husband will have an implant next week.

We are both in our 60's and children of the mercury/amalgam filling era. There is always something needing attention in one or both of our mouths.

Yes, I am very fortunate to have any dental insurance coverage whatsoever! And I so agree that people our age will continue to have certain problems here and there. My parents always took me in for routine care. Who knew what was lurking in the fillings of those days? My sister in law had all of her "silver" fillings replaced with ceramic/porcelain materials while she was in her 30s. It totalled about 6 teeth. Her sister is a dentist and would not touch the project!

I do know that my dentist is always willing to work out a payment plan that is set up prior to any treatment. As long as the agreed upon monthly amount is paid, the work will continue. I feel that he is a kind and generous person.