Dental crowns are intended to be the final step in the dental restoration process, but poorly placed crowns can cause pain, sensitivity and other complications.
If you are having problems with the dental crown, you should definitely notify your dentist.
Sensitivity to Hot and Cold
In the days after the crown is fitted, you may notice that the tooth is thermally sensitive just at the edge of the gum line. This can happen when the enamel is cut as part of the veneer process and the underlying dentin is exposed. If the crown does not adequately cover the tooth, even on a microscopic scale, a potentially sensitive dentin surface can be exposed.
We have two easy fixes for this issue that doesn’t require removing the crown. You can choose toothpaste designed for sensitive teeth or have a solution applied to the coated tooth that protects the small area of exposed dentin from temperature changes.
General Toothache
Inflammation of the pulp of a veneered tooth can be triggered by trauma from cutting the tooth for veneer. Usually the swelling is temporary. And the pulp returns to normal on its own. In the meantime, you can take over-the-counter non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to reduce pain and inflammation.
If your toothache persists even after a few days after taking the medication, you may need root canal treatment to reverse the pain.
Gum Pain
Crowns usually end just below the gumline to avoid problems with thermal sensitivity. Therefore, it is easy to roughen the gums during tooth straightening, impression taking and crown fitting. In most cases, gum pain subsides after a few days as the inflammation subsides. Take pain relievers and rinse with warm salt water up to three times a day to speed up the healing process.
Nerve Problems
Each tooth has a soft core called pulp. This is where the nerves of your tooth are located. Wearing a crown to repair a broken or decayed tooth sometimes traumatizes the nerves. The resulting discomfort ranges from mild sensitivity to excruciating pain that can be caused by biting, exposure to hot or cold temperatures. You may notice signs of nerve problems shortly after the crown is put on. Usually the solution is to root the tooth and install a new crown.
Bite Problems
During placement, your dentist evaluates how the crown bonds with your other teeth before placing the crown in place. Despite this attention to detail, you may find that the crown isn’t quite right after the numbness wears off. Initially this may be just a nuisance, but when you repeatedly apply excessive pressure to your tooth, it can become traumatized and start to hurt. It’s also possible for an infection to develop under the crown months or years after it’s fitted, which can cause inflammation and, as a result, a misaligned bite.
If a malformed crown is the culprit for your bite issues, an easy fix is to pay a quick visit to the dentist for a reshape. An infection may require a root canal procedure and a new crown.
Cracked Root
If you bite too hard on a coated tooth, the root can crack. Often crowns are an effective treatment option for cracked teeth, but the root is out of reach of the crown. Unfortunately, in the case of a cracked root, there is no solution other than pulling a tooth.
