A couple of weeks ago I had a root canal on an infected premolar, and a temporary filling until the dentist can fit a crown. I've tried to avoid chewing on that side, but last night part of the side of the tooth broke off: the temporary filling is exposed for about 2/3 of the length of the tooth along the outside down to a couple of millimeters above the gum-line.

The tooth previously had a large filling when I was a teenager and the remaining parts of that side were very thin and only supported at the bottom (the filling ran the whole length of the tooth and out both ends), so with hindsight I guess it's not entirely surprising that it came away when it was weakened... or maybe it was cracked before and that's how the infection got past the filling.

My dentist is going to check it out next week, but is there anything I could do in the meantime to avoid any further damage that would cause more problems with fitting a crown (I'm assuming they'd have had to grind down that area to fit the crown in any case)? Hopefully the roots aren't cracked, but I don't want the tooth getting infected again if I can avoid it.

Mark

Other than the irritation, it probably isn't a big deal as long as some of the temporary stays in. Probably going to need a post & core build up, but that may have been the dentist's plan from the start.

Dartos

Fawks wrote:
Thanks, that's good to know.

Yeah, he said that it would probably need a post inserted in order to fit a crown, so I don't think he was expecting there to be much left other than the root by the time he fits it.

Mark

A post and build up, will make an ideal base for your crown. With a post inserted into the root, you then get the whole length of the tooth acting to support the crown. I also agree that on your treatment plan, you will see a post and buildup for this tooth prior to the impression for the crown being taken.

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