Thread: Any dentists in the room?

On many occasions in the past I have benefited from the non-shaving related knowledge and expertise of fellow members. I do hope there are dentists amongst us who will let me pick their brains.

Last week I had a terrible toothache coming form a tooth with a gold crown. My dentist took an X-ray and found no caries or anything wrong. He suspects that the root canals have narrowed over time and thereby slowly killed the nerve. Sort of an infarction if you like.
He opened the root canal by drilling a hole through the gold crown and then emptied the root canal, filled it with a desinfective and placed a temporary filling. In 2 weeks' time he will open the tooth again, inspect the cavity and fill it up with what he calls root cement. Thereafter he wants to close the hole in the crown with a white (composite?) filling.

Popular opinion on the internet has it that composite nor amalgam bond very well with gold. I have been thinking of a gold inlay of some sort but experience seems to be very limited.

You may ask why I have a gold crown instead of a porcelain one. Reason is my extremely powerful bite coupled with some grinding while I sleep. All my molars are flat as a pancake and have been so for many years. As porclain tends to chip I opted for a gold crown.

Any thoughts?

Many thanks in advance.

I'm no dentist but no gold inlay would bond to the gold that's there through glueing. The other option of course is redo the crown entirely.

If you grind your teeth while sleeping gold is way softer than porcelain. Wouldn't the gold be a poor choice in that case?

I had a similar procedure as you through a crown but it was a porcelain crown and they just filled it.

They suggested I get gold crowns because they are softer than my teeth and will give way, on the other hand the porcelain are harder than my teeth and would cause unusual wear. Plus the gold was magically cheaper, but not enough for that to be a real factor.

I would go with the gold. if the Porcelain is harder and will wear your teeth faster do what you can to save your natural teeth. You can always replace the gold crown but when you go to replace your teeth that's a horse of a different color.

Dude, get a mouth piece, have ground and broke a few, but it’s cheaper than teeth.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Dude, get a mouth piece, have ground and broke a few, but it’s cheaper than teeth.

Each to his or her own but if I could have I would have keep my original teeth. Throat cancer and the treatment (radiation) took mine. I went to sleep and 24 teeth was gone when I woke up. dentures allows a person to eat and talk ok but there a lot of pain and trouble or at least for me it's been a pain in the well mouth.

Originally Posted by rhensley

Each to his or her own but if I could have I would have keep my original teeth. Throat cancer and the treatment (radiation) took mine. I went to sleep and 24 teeth was gone when I woke up. dentures allows a person to eat and talk ok but there a lot of pain and trouble or at least for me it's been a pain in the well mouth.

I lost my four front upper teeth in an industrial accident. I have a partial plate for those. It is the dirtiest thing ever. The struggle with trying to keep it clean is ongoing I pretty much have to rinse after I eat the smallest thing. They are very well fitted and sit tight enough I can eat apples with them. The part about keeping your own for as long as you can is ver true. On the up side Roger, you beat the beast (cancer)!