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POSTED UNDER Dental Crown REVIEWS

Dental Crown - San Mateo, CA

Name: Dental Crown - San Mateo, CA
Item: Name not provided
Author: TwoPlusOne

ORIGINAL POST

I had a 30-year-old amalgam filling in my lower...

TwoPlusOneNovember 17, 2013

WORTH IT$1,290

I had a 30-year-old amalgam filling in my lower left pre-molar that finally started leaking. I have excellent oral hygiene, which may have contributed to the longevity of the filling. The tooth turned gray a couple of months ago, and when I went to the dentist for my cleaning a couple of weeks ago, she recommended I get a crown. This is my first crown, and I was nervous. I'd no idea that my husband already has four! And my mom has several, too. I guess it's just what happens when old fillings die. I went in this past Thursday and had my temporary done. The dentist is good at giving novocaine shots, so there was very little discomfort during that part. I felt almost nothing during the actual shaping. It took a long time to do the temporary, though, and she says that I'll have to get novocaine again to get the temp off. This bugs me a lot, because I hate the novocaine. But I'm also not a fan of pain, so... The temp color is a little darker (one shade, per the chart) and more yellow than my surrounding teeth, but it still looks better than the gray tooth from before. I'm not experiencing any discomfort except that it hurts more than the other teeth when I have my retainers in. I also have a severe head-cold right now, though, which means all my teeth hurt more than usual from my retainers. I'll be getting the zirconium porcelain crown so it should look good.

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Replies (4)

TwoPlusOne

November 20, 2013

I will say that it's my regular dentist who is doing the crown, not a cosmetic dentist.

idealgrind

October 23, 2014

Beautiful! Hoping my teeth will be somewhere in-between their current size and your size by the time I'm finished braces and going to a cosmetic dentist. Oh, and the colour of your teeth pleaaase they're perfect. :)

TwoPlusOne

October 23, 2014

Thanks! I find that a home whitener (I use Opalescence) does wonders! I don't drink any coffee or tea or anything like that, but that just means I don't have to whiten as often. They definitely still get stained so I usually whiten once per year, unless something special is going on, then I might do it twice :D.

letty51

April 28, 2018

I wish I've known about this site before I went and got my dental work.
I'm in Redwood CA

UPDATED FROM TwoPlusOne

5 days pre

Picture of the temporary Crown.

TwoPlusOneNovember 29, 2013

I'm just adding a picture of the temporary crown. As you can see, it's much yellower than my other teeth because they only had one color in the office.

Replies (0)

UPDATED FROM TwoPlusOne

Day of treatment

Got my permanent today.

TwoPlusOneDecember 6, 2013

I went in to get my permanent crown today. What an ordeal! The dentist had had trouble attaching the temporary, so she ended up gluing it so hard, they couldn't get it off. And that meant I had to get novocaine again. Man, I hate novocaine. Not only does it hurt so bad to get stabbed, even with that topical numbing stuff they do that smells like pineapple; but it also makes me super sleepy for some reason. I could barely stay awake while she was drilling drilling drilling away at that stupid plastic temporary. Of course, I'm glad I didn't lose the temp while I was waiting for the perm. Always a positive side!

About the perm. It's a great color--B1. But it was too big and wouldn't fit in my retainer. So the dentist had to file and file until it finally fit. Now it's attached and it looks great.

I've attached pictures of the stump that she shaped, and the seated permanent crown.

After the temporary was installed, I noticed that the tooth was much less sensitive than it normally was. Now that the permanent is in, it's waaaay more sensitive than it's ever been. I hope that this is not the case permanently. It's difficult to drink even slightly cool water now, or to rinse my teeth after brushing. Very limiting.

Replies (5)

karinarina

December 8, 2013

if that's the worst dental problem you have in your life you are a lucky guy. Dental work is painful and as you get older downright ghoulish. Be careful to keep the margins of your crown extra clean. Use dental rinse and hope it lasts a long time. A crown is the beginning of the end of the tooth.

TwoPlusOne

December 20, 2013

Sorry I didn't answer you. For some reason, RealSelf did not notify me that I had any comments!!!

I'm a girl, but yes, you're right! LOL. The worst dental problem I have in my life is probably my impacted wisdom teeth, which I am dragging my feet at having surgically removed, not least because it's so expensive, but also because of the anticipated pain. Even though I've had a full mommy makeover, a C-section, and a natural childbirth without drugs. This surgery is the scariest I've had to look forward to, and so I've done nothing about it. I'm waiting for someone to tell me something that will magically make it make sense and seem like a good idea to do, but I have not heard that yet!

And yeah, I guess a cavity at all is the beginning of the end of the tooth, but once you can't get at it to brush it, a lot can go wrong. I hope it lasts a long time, because it being so visible, I'll have to have an implant if this fails!

TwoPlusOne

December 20, 2013

BTW, I tried to clean up that thread about the Cancun cosmetic dental work that you were in before, that was so confusing. Sorry about that. I hate it when a thread degenerates into something that just looks like spam. Are you shopping for a place to get crowns?

mlb502

December 10, 2013

Did they do a root canal on the tooth first? I have to have 2 bridges put in, that means 4 perfectly good teeth will have to be ruined in order to replace the 4 missing teeth with the bridges. I think I am going to go ahead and have the dentist do a root canal on all 4 teeth so that way I won't have sensitivity issues or pain in the future.

TwoPlusOne

December 20, 2013

Sorry I didn't see this--I don't know why RealSelf didn't notify me! I have all my notifications on.

But no, no root canal first. Like I mentioned, I don't have anymore excess sensitivity. I do still have a little sensitivity, but I can eat hot and cold food without problem, and brushing and rinsing my teeth is no longer painful.

Are these places that implants wouldn't work? I think implants would not have to file down those four teeth.

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