A properly fitted crown should completely hide your tooth, leaving no space between it and the gums. However, sometimes a gap can form beneath the crown, and this can lead to irritating and embarrassing situations where food becomes trapped in these areas and needs to be removed with your toothbrush.
Why Do These Gaps Happen? Sometimes, a crown may come slightly loose because it was not properly cemented onto your tooth. However, it may also have loosened because you ate something that damaged it. Consuming sticky foods like caramel and gummy candies can cause your crown to become partially or even fully dislodged.
Plaque and tartar build up at the base of the teeth. Inflammation from this buildup causes an abnormal "pocket," or gap, to form between the gums and the teeth. This pocket then fills with more plaque, tartar, and bacteria. Soft tissue swelling traps the plaque in the pocket.
Answer: Gums take time to heal.
This is common after getting a dental crown. Often, it may take up to 2 weeks for your gums to fully heal. If you're still experiencing this problem at that point, you should talk to your dentist at once.
The gums will close up around the crown itself so there's very little risk that your tooth will develop cavities. However, it's still possible to experience a cavity under a crown if you take poor care of your teeth or if your dental crown isn't fitted properly.
Receding gums occur when then gum margin moves away from the white enamel crown of the tooth thereby exposing the yellower root. The cause of receding gums is most often due to gum disease, but it can also be because of forceful toothbrushing on naturally thin healthy gums or because of orthodontic treatment.
Another common crown problem involves the improper placement of the crown over the affected tooth. In some cases, if the crown has been poorly fitted, it will impact your bite. You may find that when you clench your teeth, your crown is uneven, causing a wonky bite, which can cause discomfort in the future.
Small adjustments can be made to permanent crowns once on but, an attempt to avoid even these small adjustments is made in order to leave the crown in the best shape possible. This will ensure a long life for the crown as well as the best look overall.
Whenever a hole is found on a crown, the entire crown should be removed and the underlying tooth checked and evaluated. If the decay is minimal, then cleaning it up and making a new crown is all that is needed. If the decay is extensive, then the possibility exists for a root canal procedure to be performed.
The patient may feel the new crown bulkier immediately after placement eventually the patient gets adjusted to the new crown in little over 2 weeks. If it doesn't feel good after that also he may need to visit the dentist office again.
What happens when a crown doesn't fit correctly? A crown with a less than ideal fit can cause problems with oral health and overall health. It can cause a misaligned bite that leads to bite issues, cheek biting, a cracked tooth, or even jaw problems like temporomandibular joint disorders (TMJ).
If your dental crown is too high or improperly positioned, that may result in moderate to severe pain in your tooth when biting down. If your bite feels off after getting a crown and you feel pain when biting down, you may want to consider asking a dentist if the crown is loose or if it needs to be adjusted.
The gray line around the edge of your old crowns is most probably caused by the metal edge of the crown showing through the gum.
Ideally, a dental crown should be firmly bonded to your tooth. It shouldn't move any more than your other teeth (which is very slight movement for healthy teeth). If the crown can move around on top of the tooth, it's a sign that it's not fitted correctly.
The recovery period after the placement of a dental crown is typically a few days. Patients may experience some inflammation, sensitivity and irritation following the procedure that should subside within a week or two. Warm salt water rinses a few times a day are recommended to help reduce swelling of the gums.
Avoid chewy or sticky foods, such as caramel, taffy, and gum. These foods can grab and pull out the crown. Avoid chewing hard foods, such as granola, hard candy, and ice. These goods can break off or dislodge the crown.
Brush your teeth and crown gently twice a day, for two minutes. Floss at least once daily, and be sure to slide the floss around the sides of your teeth and crown (making a C-shape) rather than snapping floss in between your dentitions and restorations – snapping and pulling can dislodge your crown.
In some situations the original crown can be removed and re-cemented into place. New crowns might be required to meet your objectives for a healthy and beautiful smile. This new crowns are fabricated in the same way the as the original.
You can replace the crown as many times as you want if there is nothing wrong with it. What we mean by that is that there is no tooth decay underneath the cap. In this case, your dentist can simply remove it and just remake a new one without harming the underlying tooth structure.
If your crown and tooth are in good shape, it can simply be reattached with dental cement, and this repair will last for years to come. However, it may be possible that either the crown or tooth is damaged, making crown reattachment inadvisable.
This process is repeated until the crown fits properly. The dentist then bonds the crown to the tooth using dental cement. This usually takes around 20 minutes to complete. However, it can take 30 minutes or longer if the dentist needs to make several changes to get the proper fit.
You only have to wait for 30 to 45 minutes after you leave your dentist's office before eating. Just remember not to chew where your crown is even in the days following the procedure. What's safe to eat after crowns? Besides sticky and chewy foods, you may eat to your comfort level after the anesthetic is worn off.