<p>So, we have a busy week planned, with some college visits, Disneyland, a major sporting event (one day only), errands etc. There is really not time for this unscheduled event: I just had a crown come off. </p>
<p>The tooth underneath has a post in it (level with the tooth survace), and a lot of cement that I can see. I realize that the ground-down tooth has no enamel to protect it, and that the cement is susceptible to saliva break-down. </p>
<p>We don’t have a dentist in the area, and we have commitments every day until Wednesday, at the earliest. The event tomorrow is an all day, one day only affair. </p>
<p>Any idea of how long I can wait to get this fixed?</p>
<p>Simba - also check whether the mouth will be too crowded when the wisdom teeth come in. Our dentist said in passing that my son should have his erupting wisdom teeth removed. We thought it could wait (financial reasons), not realizing the wisdom teeth would shift all his teeth. His teeth are now very crooked and a mess - thousands of dollars in braces down the drain. It seemed to happen very quickly. Looks like he never went to a dentist in his life :(. When I see pictures of him at 16 with a beautiful smile and see his teeth now it makes me want to cry. Then cry hrdewr when i think of those thousands of dollars. When my daughters wisdom teeth were coming through we had them removed as soon as the dentist suggested it (both because of the experience with my son and because we already knew her teeth were very crowded).</p>
<p>On the other hand I never had my wisdom teeth out and my teeth are straight. Rotten and mostly crowns, but straight!</p>
<p>Karen - i have done what mominva suggested in the past and it worked for a short term fix. I had a crown come loose on a cruise so ended up in a store in Mexico pantomiming for fix-o-dent. I had to reapply it daily but it kept the tooth in place till i got home.</p>
<p>Karen, You can find temporary cement at any drugstore. My dentist recommends to dry the tooth and the crown with a q-tip, then apply a little Vaseline to the inside of the crown and put it back on. That’s worked for me for a week or so. You might have to reapply a couple of times, but as long as you don’t eat on that side you should be fine.</p>
<p>swimcatsmom - I have had two dentists tell me that wisdom teeth do not shift your other teeth. They said that is a myth. I thought that was why my teeth got crooked when I was in college because I waited to have my wisdom teeth removed. The dentist told me that the wisdom teeth erupting coincide with jaw changes at that age. This is how one website describes what he described to me. With regard to the crown, a friend of mind lost a crown on vacation and had no problem with it for over 2 weeks. </p>
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<p>There are other reasons to remove them though - my D had all 4 out last year because there was not room for them to come in safely.</p>
<p>Definitely put the crown back on with temporary cement. It’ll keep the other teeth from moving around until you can get to the dentist. I waited too long once and had to have the crown modified a little to fit once again. Made for an expensive mistake.</p>
<p>Be very careful if you put it back in temporarily when you eat, etc. I once had a crown that was temped in and I swallowed it while eating. I was eating soft rice and the it just came off in the rice which cushioned it while I swallowed it whole. You do not want to have to find your crown.</p>
<p>Call your dentist and ask him. he is the only one who can evaluate this one tooth. He has xrays and so forth. My dentist is available on a phone 24 X 7, several time he came into office just to take care of my urgent problems, but I have much more severe type of problems in my mouth than most average people with 5 implants, numerous caps, surgeries, root canals. Still, call your dentist, do not trust anybody else, how anybody can tell you without knowing what is going on with his specific tooth?</p>
<p>MiamiDap - Don’t mean to hijack the thread, but how do you find the implants? I have nearly all crowns and a couple of bridges and have also had surgeries and root canals. The root on a capped front tooth has split (it has been capped for nearly 30 years) and my options are a false tooth or an implant. Can’t afford the implant currently but hope eventually to do so (if i am a suitable candidate - may not be because of previous issues). Does the implant feel just like a real tooth as far as eating etc?</p>
<p>My poor H has had numerous crown falling off issues. He used the temporary cement to good effect a number of times (we were on vacation). His was in the front, so it was not really a chewing on issue, as it could be avoided. I don’t think they reuse the crown anyway. He eventually got an implant - much better, but $$$$$. Gold crowns are supposedly not that much more than enamel, but we live in an expensive area, and all such dental work is$$$$$.</p>
<p>swimcatsmom,
i love implants. if they are not connected, you cannot tell that it is not your tooth. i mean, I have 3 in a row and they had to be connected, but if tooth all by itself, like 2 of my others, it is great. They are $4000 per tooth between 2 docs (surgeon and regular dentist who did the crown). I have 2 insurances both of which are covering which is not that common, and I did the last one over 2 years, starting in October and finishing in February. It still cost me about $1200 out of pocket. Good luck to everybody!</p>