# Getting crowns done...a question **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 27, 2014, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-crowns-done-a-question/679889 "2014-01-27T21:54:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![yorick73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5a626/32.png) [@yorick73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yorick73)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-crowns-done-a-question/679889/41 "2014-02-17T20:04:01Z")
I had a permanent crown put in about two weeks ago. Just a warning that, for me, this part of the procedure was painful. The dentist didn’t want to use anesthetic because they wanted me to be able to feel whether the crown needed to be filed down in certain areas. The painful part was when they removed the temp crown. They scraped the adhesive off of what was left of my tooth and that hurt like hell. It was like an amplified version of the pain felt while chewing with the temp crown. Then they put the permanent crown on and off about 8 times…making adjustments each time. That was extremely painful as well. In my case the placement of the permanent crown was much more painful than the original work. I was also informed that I may feel pain for a few weeks afterwards while chewing or drinking cold liquids. They were correct. I’m hoping the pain goes away soon but, if not, I will probably have to get a root canal. I hope your experience is better than mine. If they offer nitrous for this work please take it. I’m honestly wondering if there was any benefit in not performing the root canal initially. I don’t really see the advantage of keeping the tooth alive but there may be something important that I’m not considering. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-crowns-done-a-question/679889/42 "2014-02-17T20:12:29Z")
> [@yorick73](#): > > I had a permanent crown put in about two weeks ago. Just a warning that, for me, this part of the procedure was painful. The dentist didn’t want to use anesthetic because they wanted me to be able to feel whether the crown needed to be filed down in certain areas. > > The painful part was when they removed the temp crown. They scraped the adhesive off of what was left of my tooth and that hurt like hell. It was like an amplified version of the pain felt while chewing with the temp crown. Then they put the permanent crown on and off about 8 times…making adjustments each time. That was extremely painful as well. In my case the placement of the permanent crown was much more painful than the original work. I was also informed that I may feel pain for a few weeks afterwards while chewing or drinking cold liquids. They were correct. I’m hoping the pain goes away soon but, if not, I will probably have to get a root canal. I hope your experience is better than mine. If they offer nitrous for this work please take it. > > I’m honestly wondering if there was any benefit in not performing the root canal initially. I don’t really see the advantage of keeping the tooth alive but there may be something important that I’m not considering. I could have written this - my perm crown was put in last wednesday - I wouldn’t call it ‘pain’ but an intense “shocky” feeling - during the process and now with just about any temp liquid hitting it directly. This tooth was also “very close” to needing a canal - and he thought we could avoid it. Since its a back molar - (very back) - if this doesnt calm down - I will likely opt to pull it instead of doing a root canal - even though that means losign the money spent on this crown. So - I wonder - “how long to give it” ? ---
**Author:** ![yorick73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5a626/32.png) [@yorick73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yorick73)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-crowns-done-a-question/679889/43 "2014-02-17T20:17:25Z")
> [@simster](#): > > I could have written this - my perm crown was put in last wednesday - I wouldn’t call it ‘pain’ but an intense “shocky” feeling - during the process and now with just about any temp liquid hitting it directly. > > This tooth was also “very close” to needing a canal - and he thought we could avoid it. Since its a back molar - (very back) - if this doesnt calm down - I will likely opt to pull it instead of doing a root canal - even though that means losign the money spent on this crown. > > So - I wonder - “how long to give it” ? I think “shocky” feeling is a better description than pain. The pain has decreased for me over time but it’s still there when I bite down a certain way. My dentist said it could take a couple of weeks for the nerve to “settle down”. I’m gonna give it another week and then go back to see what he thinks. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-crowns-done-a-question/679889/44 "2014-02-17T21:14:28Z")
The short answer on how long to wait is it depends. Usually they show improvement in a week or two but can take months or never improve. It really depends on the trouble factor. How much trouble is it to live with. Are you having to take pain meds or change eating habits, not good, if you only notice every so often wait a bit longer. If you can tell there is improvement even if only a bit it is usually worth giving it a bit longer. ---
**Author:** ![Melchior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Melchior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melchior)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-crowns-done-a-question/679889/45 "2014-02-17T21:23:03Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Has anyone ever gotten a crown put on their molars? And, if so, have you ever gotten it done using nitrous oxide? I have a rather profound fear of dentist and getting work done on my teeth, since I didn’t start getting any sort of dental care until I was in my 20’s and, sadly, I have pretty bad teeth. I’m informed that I have several cracked teeth that are in fairly dire need of repair, and that this will entail getting crowns put on them (as well as some other cosmetic and cavity type work), and that this is all going to take several hours (up to 5 hours possibly :eek:), and that they will be using nitrous oxide. However, they say I won’t be asleep, which confuses me…and also fills me with a bit of apprehension, since I have a pretty serious gag reflex and also don’t know if I can sit in a chair for 5 hours while someone pokes me in the mouth (I also have an issue with my jaw locking open when I yawn and things like Novocain don’t seem to work very well on me either). Anyone ever gotten something similar to this done? I have a severe gag reflex, and cannot even brush my teeth very long. I have had about 7 or 8 crowns done, all with nitrous oxide. They have me take some diazepam (Valium) the night before and again before the procedure. This is the way to go, I assure you! ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-crowns-done-a-question/679889/46 "2014-02-17T21:40:59Z")
> [@rsat3acr](#): > > The short answer on how long to wait is it depends. Usually they show improvement in a week or two but can take months or never improve. It really depends on the trouble factor. How much trouble is it to live with. Are you having to take pain meds or change eating habits, not good, if you only notice every so often wait a bit longer. If you can tell there is improvement even if only a bit it is usually worth giving it a bit longer. advil is sometimes required - cold can bring me to my knees - I can ‘avoid’ that side of the mouth for the most part - but that gets aggervating in and of itself. There’s been little (if any) improvement since it was done last week. Odd part is - with the temp crown - it wasnt as bad - but they specifically built it up on the inside to ‘match’ the crown. The tooth in front of it is ‘cracked’ - dentist said a crown, but he didn’t think it was needed ‘now’ - I’m wondering if I’m actually feeling it instead. I have a followup cleaning in a month - if its not significantly better by then - I think thats the decision maker. ---
**Author:** ![yorick73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5a626/32.png) [@yorick73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yorick73)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-crowns-done-a-question/679889/47 "2014-02-17T22:09:22Z")
> [@rsat3acr](#): > > The short answer on how long to wait is it depends. Usually they show improvement in a week or two but can take months or never improve. It really depends on the trouble factor. How much trouble is it to live with. Are you having to take pain meds or change eating habits, not good, if you only notice every so often wait a bit longer. If you can tell there is improvement even if only a bit it is usually worth giving it a bit longer. Thanks for the info. Mine has definitely improved but I’m concerned because the sensitivity to cold can last for several seconds after contact. I think there is one point that needs to be filed down as I mainly feel the pain when I strike my tooth a certain way. The interesting thing is that the dentist made me bite down on carbon paper to look for any areas that need to be filed down but it is probably difficult to take into account the act of grinding that, I have learned empirically, is involved in chewing with the molars. **rsat3acr** : Is there any advantage in not just doing the root canal to begin with? > [@simster](#): > > advil is sometimes required - cold can bring me to my knees - I can ‘avoid’ that side of the mouth for the most part - but that gets aggervating in and of itself. There’s been little (if any) improvement since it was done last week. Odd part is - with the temp crown - it wasnt as bad - but they specifically built it up on the inside to ‘match’ the crown. > > The tooth in front of it is ‘cracked’ - dentist said a crown, but he didn’t think it was needed ‘now’ - I’m wondering if I’m actually feeling it instead. > > I have a followup cleaning in a month - if its not significantly better by then - I think thats the decision maker. I can confirm that it is easy to mistake where the pain is coming from. When I first experienced the tooth pain that prompted me to go to the dentist I swore it was the tooth right in front of the one that was actually causing the problem. The nurse informed me that I had a root canal on that tooth so it could not be the source of the pain. I was so sure that she was wrong about the root canal in that particular tooth. I was convinced that she was reading the chart wrong. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-crowns-done-a-question/679889/48 "2014-02-18T02:08:43Z")
**yorick73** sensitivity can also be caused from the occlusal trauma(hitting when biting),the fact that it has gotten better is a good sign. Get the occlusion checked make sure you hit it that certain way when the marking paper is in there. As for doing the root canal prior to the crown, if it needs on it is a lot easier to do on a tooth than through a crown. There are dentist that always do root canals before all crown to avoid sensitivity. Most teeth don’t end up with that much sensitivity due to crowns so IMHO they are doing unneeded work. If the tooth was symptomatic prior to the crown prep then a root canal is indicated. I liken the post op sensitivity to cutting fingernails. When one cuts a nail too short the finger is sensitive for a couple of days due to the quick being closer to the outside world. With a tooth it is similar. Cutting the outside of the tooth away for the crown makes the nerve inside relativly closer the outside world(temps in the mouth). The tooth doesn’t grow anywhere near as fast as a nail and so takes longer to reduce sensitivity. Of course the tooth grows inward as opposed to out like a nail. **simster** doesn’t sound too good and another month should give you the answer. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-crowns-done-a-question/679889/49 "2014-02-18T06:30:54Z")
> [@XT](#): > > J\ I’m hoping that the permanent ones will be a lot better on both aspects. Some of the people in my office who have gotten something similar done say it should be. I find the permanent crowns do indeed feel a lot better than the temporary ones. > [@simster](#): > > \ > So - I wonder - “how long to give it” ? It can take my teeth up to a year to settle down after I have work done. My crowns always feel more sensitive than my regular teeth - I more-or-less just get used to it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-crowns-done-a-question/679889.md?page=2)