I had a CEREC crown made. I’ve had crowns before, but this is my first CEREC crown. It’s also a new dentist for me as I’m new to this town. The crown broke in half within a week. I was eating, but nothing really tough. The dentist has offered to replace it. I’m leaning toward letting him, but I wanted to double check about the cause. Is this a common thing with CEREC crowns? Should I ask for a traditional crown?
Gary
Dear Gary,
First, I will tell you that a CEREC Crown is as durable as a traditional crown. They’re essentially made out of the same material. The biggest differences are one is milled by machine out of a single block of porcelain during the appointment and the traditional crowns are milled by hand sometimes using several different blocks and require more than one appointment. Neither of those affects the strength.
What happened to you is extremely rare. I’m tending to lean toward this happened to be defective material. However, there are a couple of other reasons this could have happened.
Reasons CEREC Crowns Can Break
The Crown is Seated too High
Because you’ve had crowns before, I think you’d have noticed something wasn’t quite right. However, just in case. if a crown is seated too high, it absorbs the full force of your bite. Normally, that force is spread over a group of teeth. When just has to handle it themselves, it is more likely to break. One sign of this would be pain with biting.
You’re a Tooth Grinder
Many people don’t even realize they’re grinding their teeth because they do it at night. However, your dentist should have noticed that and informed you because your teeth would be wearing down. Using a simple mouthguard is an easy way to protect your teeth (and crowns) in this situation. Again, the CEREC wouldn’t be more likely to break than your natural teeth or a traditional crown, so I don’t think this was your issue.
If you’re asking my opinion, I’d say let this dentist replace your crown. It sounds like he just happened to have some defective material. If you decide to not allow him and use a different dentist just don’t wait too long. Your tooth is exposed and is at risk of sustaining significant damage. Then, instead of replacing a crown, you’ll be replacing a tooth.
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