Gluing (my) bits back together.......
 

Sitting here looking at the crown that up until a few minutes ago was firmly (yeah, right) stuck in me head, contemplating my options.

~ 2 years ago, this same crown (all resin) popped out. Saw a dentist, he scraped the crude off of it, slathered on some glue, and shoved it back in. He said it was poorly made (was one of the first generation of those uber expensive form it in the dentist's office machines back around 2000) and ought to be replaced.

20 minutes in the chair and $80 bought me a couple years, so I'm in no rush to spend 10 times that for a replacement crown.

My options.

1. Stick the crown on my desk at home and hope the hole in my gum closes itself up.
2. Go to a drug store and buy some of that emergency dental repair glue and see how long I can get out of $3.99 using the DIY route.
3. Pick a random dentist (haven't seen one yet here) and pay them who knows what to get the offending crown re-stuck.
4. Pick a random dentist and pay them $800 - $1000 to make a whole new crown.

Option 4 is pretty mucy a non-starter - even with insurance covering half a crown, I'm not crazy about spending that kinda coin right now.

So - your crown, your holey gum, your wallet. What would you do?

J-B weld? ;)

Personaly I would spend the money to get it fixed right. You only get one set of teeth.

It's expensive and a hassle now, but it'll be a bigger hassle and more expensive later. Get it fixed correctly now and you'll be better off forever. You can always sell stuff on ebay to ease the pain on your wallet.

Ditto what Paul wrote.

Option 5: Go to a dentist who can evaluate the situation and give you a proper set of options (including estimated costs and consequences associated with those options).

A while back, I had a crown (all high noble metal) lift off on a Friday or Saturday evening. I was very careful not to beat up the tooth during the weekend, and the dentist was able to see me on Monday morning as an emergency appointment. They cleaned up the crown, inspected the tooth and declared it to be apparently sound, and glued the crown back on.

So far, so good - and it sure beats all the work associated with having a new crown made.

Sorry to hear this has happened to you; tooth problems stink!

If you were planning any international travel in the future, you could get it done in a cheaper country. Will cost you about 150.00 for a gold crown in Argentina for example. Ditto for about anywhere in Asia. Could get a quote from a local dental college if you have one. I would get it fixed right one way or the other.

even though it probably helped lead me to my present status (bankrupt), i still am glad i spent $8K on my two root canals and porcelain crowns. (hey, mbna america isnt going to repossess my molars. and the pain has not returned for two years.)

Drive on over into Canada for the day and get it fixed there. I'll bet it would cost 1/5 or less what it would cost here.

What information do you have that makes you think that dental work costs 80+% less in Canada than in the U.S.?

That is classified. :D

Get if fixed ASAP!! :eek:

If you should get an infection...depending on your current health status (From what you've been doing these past few months, you're a prime specimen of super!) you could be doing more damage to your jaw should any infection move into the bone or under the gums.

Root-canal the thing, then re-cap at a better toothologist...

What you spend now will be microscopic compared to waiting for later and then things get really messed up.

In this case, don't put off 'til tomorrow what needs to be taken care of today. :thumbup1:

Take a week's vacation, come to S. Tx., walk across the border and get a new crown in Mexico for 1/3 what you pay in the States. The dental service along the border is amazingly good. Many of the guys I worked with go to Mex. for their dental work. Crowns are not all that complicated and most of the dentists there are US trained.

Or you could resort to the alternative:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG036wh8tkI

The problem was, he cleaned it off, re-applied cement and sent you off to go. The proper way would have been to get you a temporary, sent the old crown out to have it sand blasted to make sure ALL the old cement was off so he had a clean surface to work with.....before applying any cement.

Are you a dentist or do you just play one on TV?