# Lost a dental crown **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 15, 2014, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-a-dental-crown/683771 "2014-03-15T16:08:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-a-dental-crown/683771/1 "2014-03-15T16:08:24Z")
A molar dental crown fell out of my head last night. I’ve put in a call to my dentist, but it’s the weekend, so he probably won’t call back until Monday. :mad: Is there anything I should do in the meantime? There’s no pain or blood or anything, and I’ve got the crown on my kitchen counter, but I really don’t want to touch it – it looks fuckin’ gross. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-a-dental-crown/683771/2 "2014-03-15T16:35:29Z")
Original or replacement? Put it into a plastic bag would be my rec. And make sure you rinse with a mouthwash? I’ll bow to the dental experts at this point (I’m about to get a new one, myself)… ---
**Author:** ![Linden\_Arden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Linden\_Arden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linden_Arden)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-a-dental-crown/683771/3 "2014-03-15T16:41:45Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > A molar dental crown fell out of my head last night. I’ve put in a call to my dentist, but it’s the weekend, so he probably won’t call back until Monday. :mad: > > Is there anything I should do in the meantime? There’s no pain or blood or anything, and I’ve got the crown on my kitchen counter, but I really don’t want to touch it – it looks fuckin’ gross. You have plenty of time before it might become a problem. Eventually (many months) you risk destroying the nerve underneath where the crown was. Save it. It could be recemented. (not a dentist but have nine crowns and two have been replaced) ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-a-dental-crown/683771/4 "2014-03-15T16:54:13Z")
Thanks for the advice so far. By the way, is this a common thing? My dentist said the crown was supposed to last for the rest of my natural life. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-a-dental-crown/683771/5 "2014-03-15T17:17:59Z")
chew on the other side. hot or cold may cause an intense sensation. more cement this time. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-a-dental-crown/683771/6 "2014-03-15T17:29:32Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Thanks for the advice so far. > > By the way, is this a common thing? My dentist said the crown was supposed to last for the rest of my natural life. The crown may well be perfectly fine and just be cemented back on - it takes maybe 10 minutes. Or you may have some decay under the crown that needs to be dealt with. I’ve never been told that a crown would last for the rest of my life - there are too many variables that affect keeping the crown. I’ve had one crown come off that just had to be cemented back on. That happened once and I’ve never had another issue with it. I had another tooth that started decaying under the crown. The crown was replaced, but 3 years later the remnants of the tooth gave up the ghost and I ended up having an extraction/implant in that spot. I know my mother has had several crowns replaced over the years as well. I am not a dentist, just experienced in the ways of crowns (at least how they act in my mouth). ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-a-dental-crown/683771/7 "2014-03-15T20:35:39Z")
Dentist here. What to do sort of depends on the tooth. If it is sensitive or an aesthetic issue you need to put the crown back on. Just carefully place it back on the tooth, it will only go one way. Sometimes it easier to get someone to help you. Use no force, ABSOLUTLY DO NOT BITE IT INTO PLACE. If you can get it off and on fairly easily then you can temporarily cement it. It can be done with denture adhesive or you can buy temp cement at the drug store. It is by the toothpaste. Only place a VERY thin coat on the inside of the crown. dry the tooth with a papertowel and place the crown. Be careful when eating, nothing sticky. Denture adhesive especially isn’t too strong. If you are eating and feel anything hard stop and do not swallow, you don’t want to swallow the crown. If you aren’t worried about sensitivity or looks just leave it off. Should be fine until Monday. However you don’t want to leave it off much longer than that, as teeth can shift. Be careful when eating to protect the preped tooth. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-a-dental-crown/683771/8 "2014-03-15T20:39:31Z")
Forgot, my above post applies if it is a cement failure, not if the tooth is broken off in the crown. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-a-dental-crown/683771/9 "2014-03-15T23:07:58Z")
**Moderator Action** Since this is medical/dental advice related, let’s move it over to IMHO. Moving thread from General Questions to in My Humble Opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2014, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-a-dental-crown/683771/10 "2014-03-18T15:08:18Z")
The drugstore will have DenTemp or similar product ( for temporarily regluing things like this), which might reduce the risk of sudden OOOOOWIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE and provide some protection for the tooth. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2014, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-a-dental-crown/683771/11 "2014-03-18T15:15:37Z")
> [@rsat3acr](#): > > Dentist here. What to do sort of depends on the tooth. > > If it is sensitive or an aesthetic issue you need to put the crown back on. Just carefully place it back on the tooth, it will only go one way. Sometimes it easier to get someone to help you. Use no force, ABSOLUTLY DO NOT BITE IT INTO PLACE. If you can get it off and on fairly easily then you can temporarily cement it. It can be done with denture adhesive or you can buy temp cement at the drug store. It is by the toothpaste. Only place a VERY thin coat on the inside of the crown. dry the tooth with a papertowel and place the crown. Be careful when eating, nothing sticky. Denture adhesive especially isn’t too strong. If you are eating and feel anything hard stop and do not swallow, you don’t want to swallow the crown. > > If you aren’t worried about sensitivity or looks just leave it off. Should be fine until Monday. However you don’t want to leave it off much longer than that, as teeth can shift. Be careful when eating to protect the preped tooth. This is what several dentists have told me to do when a particular crown would pop off periodically. They’d just clean it off really well and recement it. Apparently the dental school student who last dealt with it had some kind of whiz-bang cement, because it’s nearly been 10 years since it last popped off, while before that, it was every 3 or so like clockwork. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2014, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-a-dental-crown/683771/12 "2014-03-18T15:40:32Z")
I’ve lost one too in the past, with no ill effects - the crownless tooth just felt a bit strange. I’ve had way too much experience in the chair on this stuff. My teeth have been X-rayed so often that a hot dog I was going to eat last week demanded a HazMat suit. My latest tooth got filmed so often it has an agent.