Earlier this week, I had a gold dental crown fall out and when I brought it in to the dentaist’s office, he inspected it and said part of the tooth cracked off due to decay under the crown and I’d need a new crown. After building up the area, he used the old crown as a temporary replacement until the permanent one is ready.
So far so good. But then while making an appointment for the followup, the receptionist tells me that since I got the old crown less than 5 years ago, and since it’s a new crown, not just a replacement, my insurance won’t cover ANY of it ($1200)
Now some people I’ve talked to say that the original crown should have prevented any further decay and the dentist should be liable for replacement.
Before I bring it up to my dentist, I’d like to have the straight dope on whether a properly made crown should have prevented this.
I don’t know about your insurance situation, but I had a crown on a molar that years later decayed and the crown fell out. The tooth had been root canaled so I felt no pain from the decay. The remains of the tooth had to be extracted because they couldn’t hold a replacement crown.
“Decay never comes through the crown, but they can get started at the edge where the crown and tooth meet (eg: at the root surface). Unfortunately, this is one of the toughest spots to keep free of plaque, so it is important to brush and floss well, maintain regular check-ups etc.”
Also consider talking to your dentist. It could be that he accidently wrote the the wrong tooth number for the first crown, and that in fact this is an entirely new crown on a different tooth.