Dental crowns are among the most powerful restorative dentistry procedures. It can take a badly damaged tooth and make it new again with an entirely new surface. The tooth can look beautiful and function perfectly again. Bad toothaches can be gone, even if they were related to an infected tooth, once the crown is placed after root canal therapy.
But if it’s not done right, a dental crown can also cause problems. So how do you know if a crown is fitting right? Here are some signs that a crown isn’t properly fitted.
Bite Doesn’t Feel Right
Your dental crown should feel comfortable, just like any of your other teeth. If your bite feels off after getting a dental crown, it might be because the crown isn’t fitting right.
You might feel the bite problem right at the dental crown, but you might also feel it at another part of your bite, such as the opposite side of your mouth.
But don’t worry about this right away. It can take a little bit for your bite to settle in, especially if you were numbed when the crown was placed. Also, if you’re focused on the bite, you might be unconsciously doing something different. Give yourself time to settle into a routine with a new crown, but if it still doesn’t feel right, then it may be time to get it fixed.
Pressure on Neighboring Teeth
You might also feel pressure from a dental crown on the teeth around the dental crown. A crown should be very close to your neighboring teeth, potentially even lightly touching, but it shouldn’t be crowded into the space.
Food Getting Stuck around Crown
On the other hand, the crown might have too much space around it, which leads to food getting stuck there. Food can feed oral bacteria, which can lead to cavities on neighboring teeth, and increased risk of gum disease around the crown.
When flossing around the crown, you should feel a tightness similar to that between natural teeth. There also shouldn’t be a ledge at the base of the crown that can serve to catch food and plaque.
Crown Is Loose
The dental crown should be bonded firmly to your tooth. It shouldn’t move except as part of the tooth. If the crown is moving independently, then it isn’t properly fit or bonded. Even if the crown doesn’t come off, it can have spaces underneath it that can allow bacteria and food to slip between the tooth and crown, which can lead to decay and destruction of the tooth.
Painful or Inefficient Chewing
Once your bite settles in, you should be able to chew naturally and normally. But if the crown isn’t fitted right, you might notice that your teeth are contacting harder or more frequently than in the past.
On the other hand, you might also notice that you’re not able to effectively chew your food with the new crown because it’s not even with the other teeth, creating a space where food can collect and not be chewed properly.
Red, Inflamed Gums
Sometimes, you can’t tell that a crown isn’t fit properly, except by the signs that something has changed with your oral health, especially your gum health. If you’ve noticed that the gums around a tooth crown are turning redder, bleeding, or potentially receding, then you know that you’ve got a problem that needs to be fixed.
Find a Better Fit
If you notice any of these problems with a provisional crown, then you should mention them to make sure that your final crown fits properly. If your final crown has these problems, you also need to report them so that the crown can be fitted better. Sometimes this might mean that you need to get a new crown, but other times the current crown can be made to fit properly.
If you are looking for a great fitting crown in the Scripps Ranch area of San Diego, please call (858) 271-1010 today for an appointment with cosmetic dentist Dr. Ramin Goshtasbi at Oasis Dental Arts.