Crowning my Tooth

I had the root canal last spring and it went well but I continued to feel a slight discomfort for quite a while. Because of this I didn't have the permanent crown put on as scheduled. My dentist and I agreed it would be a good idea to wait until I returned from Florida this spring to complete the work on my tooth.

Today I went in for the prep work but, not having asked questions about the procedure, was left wondering why it all would take 1 1/2 hours. It turns out that preparing the temporary tooth for a permanent crown is a very involved and intense procedure. My dentist is a sweetheart and very gentle but it took 3 freezing needles and the darned things hurt when inserted.

First they measured my mouth for inserts which would take impressions of my bite and it turns out I have a medium sized mouth...some people would debate that and swear I have a big, big mouth. Then they filled the inserts with what felt like silly putty and placed them in my mouth for about 90 seconds. Not bad.

Then the dentist spent quite a while filing down the temporary tooth so that the crown would fit neatly over it. Once again they popped in an insert filled with goo and this was so the dentist had a mold to form a temporary crown. This took a little longer, about 4 minutes to set. The goo doesn't taste bad but it feels like you're having teeth pulled when they remove it from your mouth.

Shortly after they had the temporary crown ready to glue over the little stump left of the temporary tooth. I believe the temporary tooth which was put in place right after the root canal is probably the same material they use when filling a cavity. The dentist put on the temporary crown with some kind of glue and placed a cotton ball on top and had me press down with my upper teeth for about a minute. After a good polishing I was sent on my way and the final, permanent crown will be popped in place in 2 weeks. I'm told that procedure is fast and easy and doesn't require freezing the area.

The work involved with having the root canal and now getting a permanent crown has cost me in the region of $1200. I remain torn about whether it just might have been more sensible to have the tooth pulled instead of attempting to save it. It's the back, bottom molar and isn't really visible so this wasn't done for esthetics. Whatever, I made my choice last spring and now the work is almost complete. It's been sort of a lengthy process but not a very painful one and I'd probably do it again if necessary.