Relative Lifespan of refitted v.new dental crowns

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Messages
4,823
Location
Taiwan
Think I swallowed one so its potentially recoverable (euw!).

Have Googled but can't find any stats on the above question.

New one here costs about 20X a refit.
 
Just asked my wife, a dental hygienist. According to her it's completely dependent on the tooth itself. If there's been no additional decay and the tooth structure is unchanged then simply recementing is an option.

If however there's been changes or decay has occurred, you're going to need a new crown.
 
Yeah,
1) Wear factor of the old one.
2) Changes to the tooth when they go to clean it up for reinstallation.
Are the dental labs in Taiwan (where you are, right?) as good as "home". I think you're working abroad, right?
 
Originally Posted By: RamFan
Just asked my wife, a dental hygienist. According to her it's completely dependent on the tooth itself. If there's been no additional decay and the tooth structure is unchanged then simply recementing is an option.

If however there's been changes or decay has occurred, you're going to need a new crown.


Had the stump looked at and it apparently seems OK. Dentist said there'd be "no guarantee" with a refit, but I doubt there's any guarantee with a new one either.
 
Originally Posted By: Kira
Yeah,
1) Wear factor of the old one.
2) Changes to the tooth when they go to clean it up for reinstallation.
Are the dental labs in Taiwan (where you are, right?) as good as "home". I think you're working abroad, right?


Dunno. I've got no real way of making that comparison. Dentists vary a lot in both places, probably, but they are cheaper here than in the UK and American coworkers tell me A LOT cheaper than in the US.

The failed one was done on a visit to the UK about 5 years ago, so didnt last that well. IIRC it was about 300 quid after UK National Health Service coverage (which strictly speaking I wasn't entitled to but bluffed). That's a bit more than Taiwan, but HI doesn't cover crowns here (considered to be cosmetic) so the actual difference is greater.

I had one done at the local teaching hospital (30% more expensive) about 3 years ago which has been OK so far, but they weren't open when I lost the crown and I wanted it looked at ASAP.

May go back to them for installation/re-installation.

Consultation this afternoon, with an x-ray and a bit of a clean-up of the stump was 100NT ($3.33) with Taiwan Govt Health Insurance.
 
Last edited:
Just my opinion but in the past decade dentists have been pushing crowns in the US because it’s a big money maker. You would hardly hear of anyone getting a crown then all of a sudden everybody was having one put in. I had one done in 2006. Insurance paid 50% so my share was around $1600. The thing bugs me every day too.

It’s a sore subject with me. I hope yours works out well.
 
Originally Posted By: Ducked
Originally Posted By: RamFan
Just asked my wife, a dental hygienist. According to her it's completely dependent on the tooth itself. If there's been no additional decay and the tooth structure is unchanged then simply recementing is an option.

If however there's been changes or decay has occurred, you're going to need a new crown.


Had the stump looked at and it apparently seems OK. Dentist said there'd be "no guarantee" with a refit, but I doubt there's any guarantee with a new one either.


LOL how many of you have went back to any dentist for a problem and they just smiled and said lucky you this is covered by your warranty!
 
Originally Posted By: PimTac
Just my opinion but in the past decade dentists have been pushing crowns in the US because it’s a big money maker. You would hardly hear of anyone getting a crown then all of a sudden everybody was having one put in. I had one done in 2006. Insurance paid 50% so my share was around $1600. The thing bugs me every day too.

It’s a sore subject with me. I hope yours works out well.



I'm not up on today's dental tech at all, but what's the alternative to a crown? As far as I know, as long as the tooth provides a stable base, a crown is the most cost effective way to go.

I know I've been through several sets of veneers and crowns for my three front top teeth over the years. I smashed them against the pavement, taking a spill off my bike when I was a child, eventually requiring 3 root canals. I get about 10-15yrs out of a set. I dread it because of the cost. Soon after my last 're-do', one of the old root canals re-infected. Instead of destroying my new crowns, they did an apicoectymy. Wow was that unpleasant.. and more $$$
 
Last edited:
6 months ago I had a molar crowned. There was a 1/8 inch diameter cavity on the side near the gumline, and they ground away the entire tooth as a repair for that cavity. It's still painful, I can't chew with it, it does not fit right and so on. Even after complaining and subsequent visits. Quite simply, they made my tooth ultra sensitive by grinding it away.

They INSISTED they could not fill a cavity that close to the gumline. I have to raise Bovine Scat flag on that one. Come to find out, cavities anywhere can be filled. There is risk of the filling failing when it's close to the gumline and it may have to be re-done. So what? That's easy compared to grinding away a complete tooth and crowning it. Then fixing the crown multiple times.

like anything, it's best to know EXACTLY what you are dealing with before YOU (not the dentist's office) choose an option.
 
Originally Posted By: Cujet


like anything, it's best to know EXACTLY what you are dealing with before YOU (not the dentist's office) choose an option.


So true. If you have the luxury of asking around, it's best to do that.

I'm kind of fortunate there, as my sister has been a dental Hygienist for many years. They see everything and has recommendations for cosmetics, oral surgery, etc..
 
In 1998 when I needed a crown I asked my 50+ year old dentist how long it would last. She told me she had a number of gold crowns put on by her dentist father when she was 16 years old. All but one were still original.

So I got a gold crown, and have had a few gold crowns installed since. I lost a gold crown on a piece of toffee (while on vacation) and had it reinstalled a day or so later. I'm a little hazy about this but I think I had it replaced with a new one a little while later and it's still fine 10 - 15 years later.

For appearance reasons the crown on a first molar (or forward of that) should be ceramic on gold.

I grew up in an area where many people had poor teeth and often ended up with missing teeth and false teeth. But standards have changed and nowadays people like to have a set of fully functional teeth. So root canals, posts and crowns are the new normal. And that's a good thing.
 
Originally Posted By: Ducked
Originally Posted By: Kira
Yeah,
1) Wear factor of the old one.
2) Changes to the tooth when they go to clean it up for reinstallation.
Are the dental labs in Taiwan (where you are, right?) as good as "home". I think you're working abroad, right?


Dunno. I've got no real way of making that comparison. Dentists vary a lot in both places, probably, but they are cheaper here than in the UK and American coworkers tell me A LOT cheaper than in the US.

The failed one was done on a visit to the UK about 5 years ago, so didnt last that well. IIRC it was about 300 quid after UK National Health Service coverage (which strictly speaking I wasn't entitled to but bluffed). That's a bit more than Taiwan, but HI doesn't cover crowns here (considered to be cosmetic) so the actual difference is greater.

I had one done at the local teaching hospital (30% more expensive) about 3 years ago which has been OK so far, but they weren't open when I lost the crown and I wanted it looked at ASAP.

May go back to them for installation/re-installation.

Consultation this afternoon, with an x-ray and a bit of a clean-up of the stump was 100NT ($3.33) with Taiwan Govt Health Insurance.


Not sure what the difference is, but when I worked in a dental office years ago, when they came off, the dentist would just re-cement it back on. I'm not sure he even charged because back then a crown was in the $500 range which was a long time ago and that included all the work so as someone else was saying, he may have just done it as part of warranty work or just part of a regular office visit which back then was around $40, that's probably more like $100+ nowadays.
 
I have gold crowned molars that are pushing 40 yrs old. The left has a big hole at the gum line and the left is tender Can these be saved?
 
Originally Posted By: andyd
I have gold crowned molars that are pushing 40 yrs old. The left has a big hole at the gum line and the left is tender Can these be saved?


From a bit of reading, standard procedure is to remove the crown, so they can see what they are dealing with. I imagine if you actually want to remove a crown it'll be difficult. IF the tooth remains are savable they'll then re-crown it, but I'd guess if they've done a lot of work it might have to be new crowns.Old ones may be destroyed during removal anyway.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Ducked


The failed one was done on a visit to the UK about 5 years ago, so didnt last that well....

I had one done at the local teaching hospital (30% more expensive) about 3 years ago which has been OK so far, but they weren't open when I lost the crown and I wanted it looked at ASAP.



Actually I THINK it was the other way around. i.e. the Taiwan teaching hospital one failed, and the British one is still OK, but I;m not sure, and can't make a general conclusion from two teeth anyway.
 
Well, thats almost 5 days. Think it got away.

Either I coughed it out without noticing it, My..er..screening programme missed it (though I was pretty thorough) or its got hung up somewhere.

As a hobby it seems similar to, but worse than, cutting open used oil filters. Unpleasant, but more importantly, really boring.

I'm going to be away from home for a few nights and can't face the logistics of continuing the screening off-site in hotel rooms, so looks like I'll be getting a new crown.

The thing is dead. Long live the thing.
 
Originally Posted By: JTK
Originally Posted By: PimTac
Just my opinion but in the past decade dentists have been pushing crowns in the US because it’s a big money maker. You would hardly hear of anyone getting a crown then all of a sudden everybody was having one put in. I had one done in 2006. Insurance paid 50% so my share was around $1600. The thing bugs me every day too.

It’s a sore subject with me. I hope yours works out well.



I'm not up on today's dental tech at all, but what's the alternative to a crown? As far as I know, as long as the tooth provides a stable base, a crown is the most cost effective way to go.



Dunno, but when I originally cracked one molar here (hairline crack IIRC) they put a stainless steel collar around the tooth to hold it together. IIRC there was supposed to be a possibility of the tooth self-repairing, and this was felt to be a more conservative approach than grinding the tooth away to fit the crown.

Sounded good to me at the time.

I gathered from the London dentist that she'd never seen this before, thought it a pretty Third World lash-up, and wanted to put a crown on it too. I told her, politely but firmly, to leave it alone. Tooth was eventually capped here, and that may be the cap that has just failed, so that may have been a mistake, though I'm not sure.
 
Saw two dentists while waiting to see if the crown turned up. Both had a poke at the stump and pronounced it sound, though only one of them did an X-ray.

Went to the teaching hospital and after a bit more poking, another X-ray, and using a gadget that gives your tooth an electric shock to test if the nerve was alive (Harness the lightening, Frankenstien. Ouch, its alive!) they reckon that I need a root canal job, based apparently, mostly on the fact that it didn't hurt much when they poked it (which I thought was a GOOD thing).

I suppose I'll have to believe them. Waiting times very long (root canal some unspecified time in Feb, temporay crown end of December, no date for final coronation) but they can refer to a private clinic where the staff moonlight. This is obviopusly potentially corrupt but pretty common practice in the UK too.

So its looking a bit more expensive and protracted, but I think it'll still be much cheaper than in the US.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top