Crown came loose, bad smell: is crown good or bad? (teeth, gumline)

[Mike_2012]

Hi there,
My first post here on the forum.

A crown that I have had for about 2 years came loose and I am seeking some advice before I go to a dentist.

In the weeks before it came loose I smelled a terrible smell once a while. Especially with flossing. I can now take the crown of, wash it, brush it, and put it back. The tooth underneath has old cavity fillings but does not hurt besides being sensitive to hot and cold (air, liquid). There is no sensitivity to hot and cold when the crown is in place. I have snapped the crown back in place for the time being. I've chosen a new dentist but could go back to the old dentist that sold me the crown. I am not sure if anything has gone wrong here or not. I suspect that my old dentist will say: "It's a great crown, here is some new glue and you are as good as new". I have a feeling my new dentist will say: " This crown is a disgrace to my profession. I can sell you a really good crown".

Does anybody have experience with crows? Could what you see in the picture be normal??

Thanks for any info,
-mike
PS: I have two other crowns that were placed by another, I think better, dentist, that have been in place without any trouble for 10+ years.

[AnonChick]

If those were actually -your- teeth, I'd say the 2nd from the top on the left, and the lower one on the right, need to be replaced. They're rotting, and the gumline surrounding the left tooth is badly enflamed, indicating infection.

However, the teeth on the right side, the individual ones sitting on a display, are obviously not your teeth. If they were, they wouldn't be sitting on display; they'd be in your mouth. The one on the left side looks photoshopped. The outer lines are blurry, so is the top, indicating that we're looking at a little globule of mush and not a tooth at all. Sort of like pus-colored silly putty with a black magic marker splotch smudged over the top. If that really IS your tooth, then it needs to be removed, you need antibiotics, and you need to stop trying to be your own dentist with snapping a crown on your tooth for 2 weeks.

[Mike_2012]

Thanks for your thoughts on this: AnonChick.

ah... On the left is my jaw... on the right is the crown in different views. Lower right is the crown upside down: so we are looking into the white-gold cap but there is a lot of -I guess- cement or glue (at least that's what I think). I'm off to the dentist first thing after the weekend, but would like to get as informed as possible before I hear what the dentist will say, because I know they can talk a lot of bull*, because most dentist think to much as accountants ($$).

[Mike_2012]

@AnonChick.
PS:
I read your response again... you think the tooth on the left -the one that normally is covered by a crown- is a "little globule of mush and not a tooth at all". It's a tooth. It's hard. I can brush it. No pain, doesn't seem to smell. It's just sensitive to hot and cold air and hot and cold water. It looks awfully black etc. but I believe -and hope- those are old fillings. The smell I wrote about seems to come from the inside of the crown (so bottom right of on the attached pic). I'll see what my new dentist will say on Monday morning (I have my appointment).

[AnonChick]

Well you wouldn't necessarily know what a specific spot on the inside of your mouth smells like, since I doubt your nose reaches that far

But the gumline is appears swollen and enflamed, and it also appears that there's a bit of greying of the gum between that tooth and the tooth "below" it, on the left side. If you had a root canal of that crowned tooth then sure some of that black is very likely the post and filling material. The left half of the tooth though doesn't appear as filling material at all, it looks rotted. There's also a pock mark on the outer "visible" surface of the tooth; like a tiny little divot. This could be decay, or it could be an old composite filling. It's hard to tell from the photograph. Note, that I'm only going by what I see in the photograph. The lighting might be causing me to see things that aren't there, or not see things that are there, or see something distorted, etc. etc.

I wouldn't be surprised, however, if your dentist advised you to lose the tooth and get either an implant or a bridge. Future warning though, never let a loose crown go so long without having it seen, if at all possible.

Good luck!

[Mike_2012]

Here an update for who's interested:

It's now about 14 days after my original post.

I was right: the smell came from the inside of the crown. It was a horrible smell from the cement that was hard as rock and stuck to the inside of the crown. I put the crown over night in a bath of water and lots of toothpaste. This dissolved the film that was stuck on the inside of the crown. The white gold came out shining like new and did not stink anymore.

My dentist said that the crown and the tooth under the crown are both good. He wanted to cement the crown back in. Because this one molar had been sensitive to pressure for the last 5 years I thought this was an opportunity to have an endodontist look at it once more now that the crown was not on there.

I saw the endodontist and she said that an old filling under the crown was placed deep in the dentin, possibly reaching the tooth's pulp (see below for a drawing of a tooth for who's interested), possibly causing (lightly) inflamed pulp and nerves.

She recommended a root canal treatment and a new crown.

I had the root canal done and after three days of letting the gum heal a bit, I went back to my dentist to ask his opinion: keep the old crown, or put in a new one. I said I hoped that I did not need a new crown (they're only covered 50% by my insurance), but that I did not want a solution less than best. He insisted that the old crown was as good as any new crown so he cemented it back in.

Today, 6 days after the root canal and 3 days after cementing the crown back in place, I'm a happy camper: It all seems better than before the crown came of, and possibly, as good as it was 5 years ago. My insurance covered 80% of the root canal and re-cementing, So I paid $240 for the root canal and $30 for re-cementing. Not bad. Thanks for your opinion to the responders and I hope that the documentation of my experience might be of help to others.

If you have any questions please let me know, this thread was useful for you, maybe shout out below; that would be interesting for me to know. Cheers, -m

[Mike_2012]

PS:

Originally Posted by AnonChick

Well you wouldn't necessarily know what a specific spot on the inside of your mouth smells like, since I doubt your nose reaches that far

The reason why I initially though that the smell came from the crown and not from my tooth/mouth was that when the crown was in I could smell/taste the bad odor and when the crown was in my hand I could not smell/taste the bad odor. The smell organ is of course very close to the mouth and by squeezing air from your mouth to you nose, you get a sense of what you mouth smells like. (Side note: I think more people should do this and protect us (colleagues e.g! ;-) from their breath)

[DAIRYDAD]

You just need new glue!

[Ceece]

I'm off to the dentist first thing after the weekend, but would like to get as informed as possible before I hear what the dentist will say, because I know they can talk a lot of bull*, because most dentist think to much as accountants ($$).

Put a little effort into finding a dentist you trust.

[Mike_2012]

Originally Posted by Ceece

Put a little effort into finding a dentist you trust.

Who says I am not doing that? With starting this tread I was just trying to get a little extra information for when I'm sitting there at the mercy of a dentist I've only known a few months, so that I can get a feeling if this dentist can be trusted.