It’s Now or Later “Not Never”
Q: Teeth are the last on my to do list. Don’t get me wrong I’ve attended to my teeth so I’ve got most of them. However, I broke off a tooth next to my front tooth so I look like Halloween. I made an appointment for an exam. What I didn’t expect to hear was that other teeth looked like they needed attention too.
After the exam the doctor said “there’s a reason for that tooth breaking and just replacing it won’t change the force that caused the tooth to break in the first place”. “You have a bridge next to the broken tooth” so he said “I might have to take the old bridge off and tie the broken tooth into a new bridge”, “that way” he said “you’ll get strength from the bridge to help the broken tooth”. He seemed a bit unsure so while we were all homebound I decided to see my wife’s dentist. He took molds in late May because by “now” I’m not liking the hole in my face.
Later when he and I spoke, he showed me how I was “killing” my lower front teeth, wearing them down and putting so much pressure on that part of my mouth that I’d broken the said tooth off through sheer grinding. He suggested the bridge could be sectioned so the bridge part could be turned into an implant with a crown and the eye tooth next to the broken tooth could be crowned and fused with it for strength. He also said I needed to crown all six of my lower front teeth to save them. When I looked at the price I said “lets do some fillings down there, I’ve go some fun projects and that will cut into my fun”. So, is that possible? The lower teeth are about half gone.
A: If your thought is to rebuild the top teeth and try to rebuild the bottom teeth with bonding you may have to do some fancy jury rigging later on. White filling material is a very short solution in a forceful grinding situation. Also, if your lower teeth are working against upper porcelain teeth, the lowers will wear much faster.
There are ways to come back later and make your lower teeth their proper size and balance the whole mouth but it’s more involved. Have fun with your projects but don’t put your teeth on the back burner or you may have more rebuilding than it now requires.
If we can help, we’d like to. Call 778-410-2080 for a consultation or visit us today.
Based on actual patient cases
Calvin Ross Crapo