Is It Common for Part of a Dental Crown to Break off Within 5 Weeks After Crown Was Recemented?

Question

Crown on my lower molar was loose. Dentist "popped" it off & recemented it. 5 wks later, a corner of crown fell off while I was eating. Dentist said the crown may have had a fracture in it and that is why it broke. He did not see a fracture at time of recementing. Is this common to have a crown develop a fracture & break off after being recemented? Also, dentist did a "resin composite - 3 surfaces" to fix crown. Is that okay or should crown have been replaced?

Mauricio C. Tijerino, DMD · Answer

I do not see any wrong-doing by the dentist. The crown was already in function in your mouth for who knows how long, its possible the crack had already developed and it was going to break anyway. There is not way of predicting this. If the crown still had a good fit and there was no decay in the tooth, then your dentist did the right thing by re-cementing it. It's possible this crown could have given you many more years of service.

	Once it breaks, it is very difficult to get a repair to last. Depending on where the crack is you may be better off with a new one in the long run.

	Hope this helps

	Dr. T

Leonard Tau, DMD · Answer

We do not know how when the original crown was made.  Crowns can pop off for a variety of reasons. Once the crown broke after it was recemented I would have redone the crown if it happened in my office.  Not sure why they did a 3 surface composite to fix the crown.Speak to your dentist to find out why it was not replaced.

Jay Neuhaus, DDS · Answer

The real question is: "Why did the crown loosen and come off in the first place? How old was it? There could be many reasons, and for some reasons he answer would have been to replace the crown with a new one. As far as the crack is concerned: there is no way of knowing now if the crack was already initiated before or after the dentist recemented it. If there were already an incipient craze line in the porcelain, the recemnting process might have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. We'll never know.

George Koutsoukos, DDS · Answer

I think your dentist should have made a new crown for you. Your crown came out, he recemented it and then part of it broke off while you were eating tells me something was not right with the crown.  Rather than doing the right thing, which would to have made you a new one, he did a patch job on the old one.  Maybe I am wrong, but I do not think this will last!  If it does not then I would think seriously of changing dentists!

Is It Common for Part of a Dental Crown to Break off Within 5 Weeks After Crown Was Recemented?

Answers (4)

Answer: Crown broke off after recementing

Answer: Crown broke off after recementing

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Is It Common for Part of a Dental Crown to Break off Within 5 Weeks After Crown Was Recemented?

Answers (4)

Answer: Crown broke off after recementing

Answer: Crown broke off after recementing

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