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Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Dentist Update #1238794857

(Seriously, I need to start a "Dental Woes" category. In fact, I think I'm going to go do that right now.)

After whining about all my dental issues over the past 6 months, it just wouldn't feel right not updating you on the latest one after complaining about it on yesterday's post.

So. After losing part of my brand new permanent crown while eating a waffle, I went into the dentist AGAIN today. I think I'm up to visit number gagillion for the year now. Too bad they don't have one of those little cards where you punch a hole at each visit... tenth visit free!

Anyway, because it was a(nother) dental emergency, I couldn't bother with trying to schedule it for the first appointment of the morning, so I had to leave work to go to an 11a.m. appointment. He took a look at the crown and the piece of porcelain had just popped right off the back. He determined that the porcelain wasn't properly bonded to the metal* and so now I have to go in and have that crown removed and a new one put on next week. (No charge, of course.) Luckily (HA!), I already had an appointment for a cleaning and x-rays scheduled for next week, so he just piggybacked the crown appointment right after that one. Meaning I am now going to miss an entire morning of work next week... not to mention more time whenever I have to go in and have the permanent one put back on after it comes back from the lab. (And not to mention any possible appointments related to whatever might show up on the new x-rays. Oh god, please let the new $11 after insurance toothpaste be doing it's job.)

To recap (ha! punny!) the issues I've had with this ONE tooth alone:

  • March -- was told that I would need a permanent crown put on it because with the latest cavity, the tooth was going to be more filling than tooth
  • June 15 -- had appointment for impression for permanent crown and placement of temporary crown
  • June 19 -- temporary crown falls off while eating a piece of bread
  • June 29 -- had appointment for placement of permanent crown; permanent crown was too high and after grinding it down enough so that my bite was fixed, metal was showing so it needed to go back to the lab to be re-porcelained
  • July 2 -- miraculously, the lab gets the crown back on a rush order so I can have the crown placed before my vacation (my guess is that when it was re-porcelained is when the problem with the bonding occurred... possibly even because it was rushed to get back to me)
  • July 3-17 -- tooth hurts, although decreasing in pain each day, most likely what turns out later from a still incorrect bite (although I couldn't really tell my bite was off at the time, but that's the most logical conclusion given later events); I foolishly never bother to go to the dentist to have this checked out, which may have prevented...
  • August 19 -- permanent crown FALLS OFF while flossing (apparently, the cement that holds crowns on can be cracked if there is too much pressure, such as from an incorrect bite or grinding of teeth; I don't grind teeth, but it would make sense that the bite was still off)
  • August 20 -- permanent crown put back on; bite is definitely better than before, supporting conclusion that that was what caused the pain and it falling off
  • September 14 -- piece of porcelain falls off crown

    Yeah, so that's that. I am really, really hoping that there are no further issues with this tooth next week. Google tells me that sometimes the removal of a crown can cause enough damage to the tooth to require a root canal... ACK!


    *My dentist is not the one who made the crown, so I have no issue with him. This whole thing is not his fault and he is always very apologetic about my ordeal.




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