Dental Question.?

Question

In February, It will be two years since I had 2 root canals and crowns. The one crown broke as soon as I left when I ate something. He replaced it. My gums around them have been red and swollen most of the time. I switched dentists after that.

About a week ago One of them became loose after they were really irritated. I went to the new Dentist who thought that I might be biting down hard on it and causing the ligament to stretch and he adjusted my bite.

Today, I was eating chips and that tooth broke, half the post of the root canal and the whole crown fell out.

I decided to call the old dentist since he did the work and since he has an emergency number where as my new dentist doesn't have an emergency number.

The old Dentist said to call when they open in the morning and schedule a time to be fit in. It doesn't really hurt since I have no nerve there. I thought that since he did the work, it should be covered and paid for by him like the first one was.

What do you think? Should the old dentist pay for it? Should I go to the new dentist and forget it?

Has anyone had a crown break off like mine, post and all.?

Thank you in advance for your kind answers.

Answer 1

In California most dentist will give a 5 year warranty on crowns as long as you have been maintaining your dental health (i.e. cleanings every 6 months). Every DDS decides what his/her warranty is, but Major insurance companies like Delta Dental & Metlife will allow crowns to be covered every 5 years or so.

Sometimes you tooth can just have too much stress on it and give out. You might want to explore if he will give you a refund & look into a dental implant.

Or....make sure you do not have an abcess above where the root canal was preformed. Whatever you do, be nice to your old DDS about it yet firm that you are not happy and offer him to make it right. Im sure your DDS will do the right thing. Just try to aviod telling him u moved to a new DDS, that way he thinks he is trying to keep his patient by cutting them a break.

If all else fails you can get the new DDS to write a report about his finding and even pursue legal action. The DDS' work should last more than two years, and he knows that! Hope this helps.