What to Do If Your Dental Crown Loosens

Preserving dental health is essential for eating, speaking, and preventing long-term problems with infections and other illnesses, and part of that process is caring for damaged teeth and replacing them if necessary. Dental crowns are a tool in tooth care, used to protect broken or cracked teeth, preserve them after root canals, attach bridges, replace teeth, and can last long periods if taken care of properly.

But, even if you brush, floss, rinse daily, and do everything you can to take care of them, crowns can get damaged, leading to cracks, breaks, or even loosening and falling out. To help guide you through how to deal with this, let’s look at some dental crown basics, what causes them to loosen, and what you should do when it happens.

The dedicated staff at Bravo Dental Group and Dr. Ayed Hawatmeh can help Brea and Banning, California residents deal with loose crowns and other dental problems. 

Dental crown basics

Crowns can be made from different materials, such as composite resin, ceramic, porcelain, metals (steel, titanium, gold, and silver-based alloys), and porcelain fused to a metal framework (called a PFM) and can be a temporary or permanent solution for tooth problems. Temporary crowns usually get placed while waiting for permanent ones to be fabricated, and they typically consist of composite resin. 

Once the permanent crown is placed and bonded, it can help improve chewing, make your teeth look nice, and protect them. It can last up to 15 years if cared for properly. 

Reasons they can loosen

Several reasons your crown may loosen include:

• Decay under the crown: Despite getting a crown to protect teeth, infections can still develop under the gumline and cause damage that further weakens them.

• Cement issues: If the cement does not get placed correctly, it can create problems with keeping crowns in place.

• Dietary issues: Eating foods that are too chewy or sticky can loosen crowns.

• Teeth grinding: Also known as bruxism, grinding your teeth can put undue stress on them, and with a crown, it leads to damage or becoming loose.

• Lack of tooth structure: In some cases, there may not be enough tooth material for a crown to attach to, which weakens the bond and compromises the process.

What to do if it happens

Before getting proper work done to keep it in place or replacing it if necessary, here are some things you can do:

Avoid direct contact

Avoid touching or adding pressure to the loose crown, as it will only worsen the situation, leading to it falling out and possibly increasing the pain.

Apply temporary glue

Over-the-counter dental cement can help keep it in place until you get in to see us, but you need to be careful in how you apply it. Be sure to remove as much existing cement as you can and clean the crown before putting it on. This step is mainly for when the crown isn’t already causing pain, in which case, avoid direct contact.

Take over-the-counter pain relievers

Oral pain relievers like ibuprofen can reduce pain, as well as toothache and gum pain relievers like Orajel®.

Watch your diet

Be careful about what you eat while waiting for an appointment to have the tooth checked, meaning you should avoid tough, crunchy, chewy, or sticky foods like beef jerky, gum, candy, raw fruits and vegetables, chips, and crackers.

Be sure to make your appointment as soon as you start noticing pain and signs of problems with the crown, and follow the steps above to keep it from getting any worse. For help with crowns and other dental services we offer, contact Dr. Hawatmeh and Bravo Dental Group today.