Your dental cv4rown fell off.....why?....How?

It is an inconvenience to have a crown fall off. While probably won’t be a painful experience, but these things have a tendency to happen in the worst place at the worst time. Your crown came off, why?
Crowns stay on your tooth by two means:
1- mechanical: the design of tooth preparation takes into consideration the retention of the crown.
2- Use of cement. There are many types of cements that basically “glue” the crown to the tooth. Sometimes using a weaker cement can be a bliss, so if your crown falls off, don’t wonder, why didn’t we use a stronger cement.

Causes for a crown coming off:

1- tooth decay: a crowned tooth is not immune against decay. If not looked after properly, the margin of the tooth can get decayed. once the tooth under the crown is decaying, the cement loses its bonding strength and the crown falls off.
2- Sticky food. The bonding of the glue on your crown is challenged with stick food like lollies and candy. It will not necessarily happen immediately but every time you chew a sticky candy on that crown, you break the cement slightly, until it comes off all together.
3- Damaged crown: Albeit hard, the crown can get chipped and break. a broken crown might lose retention and come off.
4- Habits: Like grinding your teeth, whether consciously or while sleeping. Putting more stress on the crown, can break the glue bond and crown comes off. Also chewing on pencils, pins,..etc, can have the same effect.
5- Small teeth. sometimes teeth are bulbous and short to start with. When we trim them to make space for the crown, they get even shorter. This makes them less retentive to the crown.
6- Cement breakdown. If the margin of the crown leaks, the cement might desolve with time under the crown.
7- Poor fit: the most important thing in crown retention is proper fit and preparation. If that is defective the crown will fall off sooner or later.

What to do?

– there is a small chance that the crown will be useful, nevertheless, do keep it and bring it along.
– try to avoid hot food, because your tooth might still be vital, and hot material might trigger inflammation of the nerve
– stick to soft diet. The tooth is probably made up of filling material, and will be very week.
– don’t be tempted to glue the crown back by yourself, only use toothpaste or denture adhesive to do so.
– If the tooth is sensitive, rinse with salt water after each meal.
– Call us as soon as possible.

Conclusion:

Crown coming off, does happen quite often. Chances are you will need a new crown, if the tooth is not decayed or grossly damaged.