When I first got my crowns like about fifteen years ago, one of them had a slight defect. I couldn’t tell, but my dentist told me about it. He said that they’re fairly common, but it shouldn’t be a problem. Something has since changed. I can now see and feel the defect. It is a bit like a crack that I can feel with my tongue. It is horizontal. I’m not sure if this crack is considered a dental emergency or not. I’m sure it needs to be replaced. I just don’t know if it needs to be replaced right away or if it can wait. There are six crowns in total. Do I need to replace all of them at once or just the one that is having the problem?
Alana
Dear Alana,
These tiny defects are called craze lines. Your dentist is right that they are fairly common. They are not usually a problem, but it is obvious that yours has changed. You can now see and feel the crack. At some point this dental crown will fail. I would not call it a dental emergency where you would need to get in today, but I would go ahead and schedule an appointment with your dentist to get this replaced.
As to whether you need to replace all of them or just replace the cracked one, that depends. Your crowns are all 15 years old. My suggestion is that you just ask them to evaluate the health of the crowns. If they’re all fine except that one, then you have a couple of options. You could just replace the damaged one and then deal with the others as needed or you could do them all at once and be done with them. If a dentist tells you that you need to replace all of them in order to get them to match, that is a problem with the dentist. Any skilled cosmetic dentist would be able to match a single porcelain crown to the remainder of your teeth.
This blog is brought to you by Hilton Head Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Bonnie Rothwell.
