Sure. A periodontist can do gum grafting to fix it. It's not always easy and there are various factors involved but it's generally fixable.

you are the bearer of bad news popo

my insurance doesn't start until september one and I don't have the money to go myself so I'm still waiting it out and brushing like a madman.

thanks for the heads up though :(

Broken Molar
 

Hi,
The other day I was eating pizza and when I bit into the crust I broke a molar. I'm just sick about it since I've never broken a tooth before. There is no pain, but about 1/4 of the tooth is gone and now there are sharp edges.

What would be the normal course to fix this? Do I have to get a root canal? About how much is this going to cost me?

Thank you,
Patty

Hi Patty, sorry to hear about it. You will most likely need a crown or onlay (~$700-1200). If the nerve is affected, you'd need a root canal (~$1000) and post/core (~$3-500). If the break goes under your gumline, you may need a crown lengthening procedure (~$600-1000).

If the break is really small and it just feels like 1/4 of the tooth, you may have lucked out and just need a filling.

If all that I mentioned is needed, you might consider an implant instead. It's a very viable allternative these days to going through all those procedures which each have a certain failure rate.

Good luck and lemme know if you need more info.

I don't have any problems with me teeth that I'm aware of, but thought I might throw in a human interest question. What do you like most about being a dentist and why?

My little story: I got into dental school mainly as a fluke. I was doing an undergrad in molecular bio and figured that my future was med school. I took the MCAT very young (19) and did ok (28) but not good enough to get into a good school, or so I was told. As I thought of retaking it, my enthusiasm waned and then I spoke with physicians who were jealous of their dentist buddies and suggested that. A good friend was applying to dentistry and I was convinced. Med just didn't appeal to me anymore.

Dental school wasn't fun. I thought many times that I'd made the wrong choice. I may have dropped out if it weren't for the massive loans I took out. I'm now a periodontal resident with an extra 3 years training in implants. I love it. People come to me with big problems, about to lose a tooth, about to lose a full mouth of teeth, already have no teeth, etc and I rehab them with bone grafts & implants. I love surgery, I love the biology & medicine involved. I love what it does to patients. It completely changes their lives. People without dental problems don't understand the effect that teeth and oral function have on a personality. I've had patients cry at the first appointment and cry and the last one, but for very different reasons. It's pretty gratifying.

That's the short story. Thanks for asking. Cheers.

Does $360 sound like a lot for a simple cap replacement? Hubby broke his, there was no cavity exposed, the cap had only broken off in part. I never imagined that filing it down and replacing it with a resin cap would be so much.

I'm not sure what you mean. If a crown was broken, it needs to be replaced with a new one. You can attempt to patch it up but it should be replaced as it is now more prone to future fracture. A new crown costs ~$700-1500.

If it was a natural tooth (not a crown), it makes more sense. In that case, it might be a bit steep for a composite (1 appointment) but cheap for a resin inlay (2 appointments).

Popo
Would you recommend using Carecredit to finance dental treatment? Supposedly, payments are interest free if you pay within a certain timeframe of 3,6 or 12 months.
Do you know if Carecredit works like a credit card? Lets say I want to finance $3000. Does the dentist get $3000 up front and then I make the required monthly payments?
According to the dentists office, carecredit only gives them $2700 and then I have to make up the the difference which is another $300 or approx. 9.9 percent. Doesn't seem as good as it looks when you read their literature. What do you or anyone else who has used this company think?

Thanks popo - I always enjoy hearing about the things that others enjoy. Great that you can make a living at something you enjoy, and make a positive difference in people's lives at the same time.

About a year ago i chipped two front teeth (one top and one bottom) because i was watching TV and i bit my fork (what a stupid story, i know), my dentist filled the top one up because she said it was chipped through the enamel, but she didn't touch the bottom one.

I can see a small crack towards the side and it will sometimes hurt for a few days at a time (especially sensitive to temperature those days). I'm a bit young to have gold and silver crowns on my teeth, i'm just wondering if there are other alternatives, because it feels like it's only going to get worse with time.

Thanks


(by the way, this thread makes me think that all tfp'ers should just pitch in to buy an island on the carribean and live a self-sufficient lifestyle)

popo, I just enrolled in a boxing class and the problem is that I have been wearing braces for about year now. To make matters worse, our coach says that we will be required to spar three times and have at least one full contact match by the end of the third month. I havent yet talked to my orthodontist yet but was wondering if you could offer any advice on keeping all my teeth.

This may be a bit outside your normal area, but I have a question about dental insurance. I'm going to grad school and am offered an optional dental insurance plan for a bit extra a month. Up until now I'm been on my parent's plan so I have no idea how much these things should cost. What should I look for when evaluating to plan? If I decide not to go for it how much would two cleanings a year cost me out of pocket?

We've used CareCredit. It was not interest free in the least. The interest was almost twice the monthly minimum payment. If you gotta do it then do it but plan to pay at least twice the minimum or more if you can to get rid of it faster. Otherwise you can be paying for a few years. In our situation they paid the dentists office in full up front. It's considered a credit card situation.

Sore throat, towards the back. Enlarged tonsils. Maybe some headache/jawache.

Multiple possible causes:
1> Wisdom teeth. I have 3 of them unremoved (27 years old)
2> Cat allergy, and spending too much time with said cats
3> Other mouth/throat, been swapping fluids with someone new

The pain isn't all that bad.

{No longer a concern, disregard post}

Here's the deal: On Friday at 8:45 I'm going to have surgery to remove a wisdom tooth in the lower jaw. The rest of the day, my schedule is cleared for R&R. On Saturday, I'm going to work (cashier in grocery store) from 9 to 18, then I'm going to a party. Everyone says I'm insane to even work on Saturday. Of course those are the same pepole that told me vastly exaggerated horror stories before I had a wisdom tooth in the upper jaw pulled a few years ago, so I don't trust their judgement.
What kind of recovery time can I expect? My dentist only told me to take it easy for the rest of the day, but everyone else who have undergone the procedure say I'm going to need several days to recover.
I'm getting nervous here... :eek:
Oh, and I've never had surgery before. Can I eat breakfast before or is it better to do it on an empty stomach?

Thank you, Popo! After awhile, I stopped looking for a response, but circumstances kept me from doing the splint. Something told me this would be a bad solution to a small problem.

My apologies for not giving my thanks sooner than this. :icare:

Pip: I need more info to give you a good answer but here's the general scoop. It really depends on what the tooth is like... impacted or not... the position of the tooth if impacted. If the doc will need to remove bone to get to the tooth you'll be sore and swollen and will probably not want to go to work or the party. If not impacted, it won't be a big deal. Your experience has been good so far because upper wisdom teeth extraction is much kess invasive than lower ones, generally speaking. Good luck.

You're welcome Alphaba. :)

Regarding the CareCredit questions, I don't have any experience with it but I do know that it's pretty popular. I did think it was interest-free for the pt for a while and yes, I know that they do take a cut from the dentist office.

Thanks for your swift reply, popo. I have a vague memory of my dentist mentioning carving in the bone... I'm doomed, unless my ancient Viking regenerative powers kick in.

Following up on myself...
I went for another cleaning, and since there was a note in my file about asking this question, I discussed it further with the hygienist. She hadn't heard about it either, but we made a small change and I rinsed about twice as often during the pumice-polishing step, just in case it was an ingestion issue (mild fluoride poisoning? aspartame?). Also, I took two ibuprofen an hour beforehand. One of those two things solved my problem.

popo:
I'm getting my wisdom teeth out in December and am just curious what kind of recovery time I can expect. Three of them are coming in relatively straight (although, apparently not straight enough to be left in :() and one of them is coming in sideways. Three of them are still beneath the gum, but one has broken through a bit (not the sideways one). General anasthesia will be used.

So, I realize that is minimal information, but any idea how long I can expect to take recovering?

SecretMethod: I can't say for sure but from what it sounds like you can expect much swelling & bruising. Take a couple days off to relax, watch some movies, and enjoy the pain meds.

I've a mean damn toothache, and have been looking for a dentist that I can afford, as this will be a root canal job or two at the minimum.

But in the meantime, I need to be able to sleep, so... Just to be able to stand existing, I need to easily max out on the max dosage of acetaminophen (500mgx2 x8 per day). This is not enough. So, can I, on top of that, max out on ibuprofen as well, seeing as they're made of different chemical ingredients?

I'd like to keep my liver, but just "going to a dentist" isn't financially possible just yet.

I'm a 28-year-old male, 6'2", 240 lbs.

For some reason, my lower incisors are very very sensitive. This started occuring yesterday night and is still happening. I literally can breath on them to cause discomfort.

I'm thinking maybe it's my new toothbrush? My dad always did warn me about brushing the enamel off my teeth.

Thanks for answering everyones questions popo. Just had a wisdom tooth pulled out myself a few days ago and it came out fine and i didnt feel a thing now 4 days later it still dosnt hurt but my jaw is still kinda sore. but considering i have a fairly new hole its not bad at all. but when i was at the dentist he told me i have a couple cavitys between my teeth and it made me wonder how they deal with that? do they drill down from the top to fill in holes on the side of the tooth where they cant get to it?


Oh and since your a dentist you should design a better way to x-ray each tooth without biteing down on those horrible plastic things that dig into all the wrong parts of your mouth. one of those evil things scratched me under my tounge. Those things were worse then getting the tooth pulled.

So, I got my wisdom teeth pulled and everything seems to be going well. It's been a little over 48 hours and I didn't need any pain medication after the day of the surgery. As for swelling it hasn't been too bad either. Since three teeth were underneath the gum, the stitches there are preventing any open holes, but the one that had broken through does have a small bit of a hole as far as I can tell.

I spoke to my uncle who is an oral surgeon earlier today and he was telling me that they don't consider it fully healed until 4-6 weeks after surgery and that until then I should look out for dry socket, signalled by a throbbing pain in my jaw, etc, and stuff like that. He didn't give me a very clear answer on when I could start eating more solid foods though, just "whenever you're comfortable." Well, my mouth FEELS fine, but I mean I have stitches in my mouth, etc etc ;) So, when SHOULD I be comfortable eating solid food? I can't go on eating apple sauce, pudding, tomato soup, scrambled eggs, and ice cream for a month :p But I'd also like to minimize the difficulty that arises from getting food stuck.

Also, when can I brush my teeth again? The guy who did the surgery said I could brush the front by now if I'm careful, but what about the whole mouth? What should I look for as a signal that that's ok?

Sorry if you already answered this question.

I have a problem with my jaw. It pops when I move it from one side to the other, and it doesn't hurt or anything. Is it TMJ? What will the dentist have to do to fix it?

I have a question. I took my daughter to the dentist last month. My 3 yr old son wanted to see him too, but I didn't have an appointment. So I made one, it is tomorrow. Well, on the way out from my daughter's appointment, she started gagging and almost threw up because of some lemon flavored flouride treatment they used (she has a terrible gag reflex). Anyway, now my son is scared to go. Any tips on how I can ease his fear?

(maybe this should be in the parenting forum and not here? If so, can a mod please move it? Thanks)

i have had a lot of problems lately with my teeth. It started with my wisdom teeth being removed. The surgeon apparently nicked my rear molars and that wasn't caught in the followup or checkup and my two rears cracked, one became infected and was removed, the other is awaiting an option (crown/removal/whatever else). The infected one also meant i had to have a root canal on the one in front, which is awaiting a crown. The lower molars have developed problems as well since the bite isn't quite right...sooo, basically, i'm kinda lost as to what to do with them all. i say awaiting bc my insurance will kick in very soon and there is no immediate danger as far as they can tell, unless something serious were to occur, but anway, it looks like i'm going to either have to have the three remaining rear molars removed, or i'm going to have to have them all capped or implants or something else.

Sorry to make this all confusing, but do you have any suggestions/costs/anythign at all for what i should do?

My gums bleed when I brush occasionally. I'm using the same sort of toothbrush I've used since childhood. I brush twice daily, once in the morning and once before bed.

There is no accompanying pain, either while I'm brushing or before/after. Any idea why this has started happening?

I too have this problem, and sometimes I bleed when I bite into certain things..

Missing Molars
 

I am 24 years old and I've always had dental coverage expect the past year and a 1/2. I put off going to the dentist because I couldn't afford it when I finally about 2 months ago I had to have my bottom two molars on the left side pulled because I had a cavity that apparently wasn't cleaned when it filled correctly inbetween the two teeth rot down to root and the have to take out on of the top ones on my right side. I'm too young for dentures what should I do?

I went to the dentist to have 2 cavities filled about 1 1/2 months ago. They also drilled out an old metal filling in one of my molars and replaced it with a composite. I didn't have any problems with this tooth before the new filling, but ever since, I have had very strong cold and pressure sensitivity. The pressure sensitivity is not as bad as it was a couple weeks ago, but it's still there.

Is it common for a replacement filling to be uncomfortable for this long, or am I looking at needing a root canal treatment eventually?

lawgyrl im sure you dont need dentures just for a couple teeth. i bet you can get implants to replace those teeth.

I have had a bunch of dental work done recently and so far im very pleased with how its been going. had to have a broken wisdom tooth pulled then another that was just flat out in the way. had a couple fillings done and other boring stuff like that. and all threw it i have never felt any pain or anything. Im basicly allergic to just about everything so they didnt use any of that floride cleaning stuff or anything on my teeth but they did some sort of soda blast thing to clean and polish them and all that. Basicly what im saying is they seem to be able to have a answer for everything.
Even before they stuck me with the needle full of numbing stuff lidocain or something i think they called it. the modern version of novicain they put some gel on my gums so i was numb from that so i didnt even feel the needle from the injection.
My only complaint is the cost of it all but i dont have any dental coverage or anything so i suppose thats just my fault.
Oh yeah almost forgot a important detail. The office where i go has a few real attractive girls working there and for some crazy reason they all have nice teeth and a real pretty smile =)

eww.. you need to pick up one of those $100 a year dental plans that gives you around 50% off all dental work. I had Aetna insurance through my last company and they covered about $100 of my first session of around $1500. I found dentalplans.com and bought one of their packages, and over my next sessions, I got over half off everything...

It's not insurance, it's a discount program, so you don't have to wait for insurance claims to go through, or deductables that you have to wait to get the difference back... very convenient..

A friend of mine told me that listerine was a bad idea because it dried out people's gums, which could lead to gum problems. Is this true?

First of all thank you for all of your replies to everyone and actually have one of my own. I'm 21 and a few months ago had my first crown done. The dentist told me that it might be sensitive for a few days but if it continued to go back and he would shave it down some more. Well I've had to go back about 5 times to fix it and he then started shaving down the tooth directly underneath it which is perfectly ok. The thing is that it is still sensitive when I bite down on it. A friend of mine had the same problem and ended up getting a root canal as the result.. will I end up having to do the same if I go back again?

That's really too bad, sorry to hear it.

Not much you can do if they can't be saved. Save up for implants and learn from the mistake of not going to a dentist sooner. The problems would have been detected sooner. There's no such thing as not affording it as long as there is a dental school within driving distance.

I dunno, tough to say without an exam/xray. Composite fillings do cause more sensitivity and they are more technique-sensitive. But if the filling is close to the nerve, that will cause the sensitivity too. First thing is to make sure the bite is ok, if it doesn't stop then replace the filling and see from there.

Typically root canal pain is sensitive to hot temperatures and to biting. It's a throbbing pain that comes and goes.

it does have alot of alcohol, which does dry your mouth. is it a bad idea... no but i wouldn't use it 20x/day. i personally prefer the new one from crest with no alcohol.

it sounds like it just doesn't fit well. 5 adjustments is a bit extreme, i'd ask him to remake it if it's that uncomfortable.

I went back into the dentist 2 weeks ago and my bite seems fine, the x-rays seem fine. He says to give it another month, and he'll schedule me for a root canal procedure. The pain comes only when drinking something cold, and goes away after about 5 seconds. I haven't noticed the pressure problems in about a week, but I've mainly been eating on the other side, so I am not sure if there's still a pressure problem.