Hello,

I’ve got one tooth with a metal-porcelain combo crown (upper right no. 6). I’ve visited a metal-free dentist and, at first he said it was a no brainer to replace it with a composite crown. However, when I told him that the filling was close to the nerve, we did a simple test where I bit into what looked like a piece of a semi-hard cord, and I felt pain in the crowned tooth.

Based on that, the dentist determined that the tooth is compromised, and should be pulled out, because even if we did a new crown, the tooth would soon have to be looked after again.

I agree with him, but am in doubt at what to do afterwards. I’ve found here on the forum plenty of good info on the zirconium implants and calcium oxide root canals. However, these are not done in Canada yet (actually not sure about the root canals). The dentist suggested a titanium implant, but I’m reluctant for two reasons:

1) it’s still a metal, no matter how pure and bio-compatible
2) price – he’s asking $3,600 CAD

I’m leaning towards just pulling it out and doing nothing. However, the biggest show stopper is that the adjacent teeth will try to close the gap, and may eventually get to such an angle that they could fall out (though this will probably take more than 20 years).

So after a rather long introduction and background info, my question is is there a temporary tooth you could keep in place at night to preserve the gap and prevent the adjacent teeth from moving over? I also got this idea from this forum, but couldn’t find any more info.

And, of course any discussion on other solutions is welcome.

Thanks
cikatoma

I'd stay away from the implants too, metal plus they can cause jawbone infections.

But anyway before I ever had any teeth pulled, for the exact same reasons as you describe, compromised teeth, I went around to some old people I know and asked them to show me if they had had any teeth removed. they all said yes, and all had had a few removed at some point. they showed them to me, I saw no evidence of teeth doing that 'angle thing' that dentists say will happen, and all these people had those teeth removed over 20-25 years ago. I also got testimonies of the same from relatives over the phone. they all said, no problem after having the teeth removed.So so much for that.

I had a few teeth extracted. it's only been 1 yr to 18 mos. In every case, no problem, no angling. I have noticed a very slight movement in the adjacent teeth, a barely noticable extra space that makes flossing easier. My daughter was born with a little extra space between all her teeth, mine have always been real tight. chances are excellent she'll never get cavities inbetween her teeth because she can actually brush a little and floss real well in there too, something my real tight together teeth never enabled me. So now mine simply look more like hers in spots. we're not talking big gaps now, just a teeny extra bit of space, the teeth simply no longer touch each other perfectly.

Be sure to remind the dentist to remove the periodontal ligament. good luck!!

I had one tooth (lower left no 6) removed 22 years ago (I was 16), and the adjacent teeth have angled and are closing the gap. I saw that on x-rays. I expect the same thing to happen with this one.