Question for dentists / dental experienced people

items

Lucky for me I haven't much of a clue about dentists and treatment. My teeth have never really bothered me in a way to visit a dentist much. I know I should visit once a year but never found the time, I've got some time on my hands now so looking at visiting dentist for an issue I have.

During my teens no to long ago I broke a tooth badly, not sure which one its called, its to the side of two main front teeth (top). After the break I was brought to dentist, I didn't pay to much attention on what was done or reason for it, just went with dentist recommendation. So dentist extracted what was left of broken tooth, took out nerve and popped some kind of metal receiver into my gum to take a replacement / false tooth.

I've had this false tooth all the time since and all's been fine, even though its not causing any problems (not that I am aware of). I am considering having replacement taken out, I don't like the look of it anymore so trying to figure out what I need to do.

I have to search about for prices, ideally I would like the best job done but I don't have that kind of loot anymore so I'd like to get the best within budget if at all possible.

I've had a quick look over some sites and not sure what I need, is it a bridge? a possible crown over existing false tooth? an individual denture? an implant?

Can anyone advise on whats best from information given? Hopefully I'll be going into a new line of work in near future, before any offers come my way I've got to have some medical check ups, including dental. I can get fillings done if needed all that is fine , just have a concern over the look of false tooth.

I'd like to set it in a way it both looks better and passes dental check along with decent enough price, might be to much to ask but you never know. A ballpark figure would help too.

Cheers.

ballsymchugh

items wrote: »

So dentist extracted what was left of broken tooth, took out nerve and popped some kind of metal receiver into my gum to take a replacement / false tooth.

no offense, but this is confusing.
if you had the tooth extracted then you wouldn't have had the root canal treatment.
but if you did have root canal treatment then you could've had a post crown made.
either way, you're better off just to go to a dentist for a check up, draw attention to what you want done, and go from there. you don't have to commit to anything until you've been given your options and you've thought about where to go from there.

items

ballsymchugh wrote: »

no offense, but this is confusing.
if you had the tooth extracted then you wouldn't have had the root canal treatment.
but if you did have root canal treatment then you could've had a post crown made.
either way, you're better off just to go to a dentist for a check up, draw attention to what you want done, and go from there. you don't have to commit to anything until you've been given your options and you've thought about where to go from there.

Sorry about the description, its the best I could do from memory.

All I know is dentist had to take out tooth, what ever tooth left after the break was not enough to attach anything onto. The replacement I now have is fixed, I cant take it out, I take it its fixed into metal receiver located inside my gum, that might give a reason towards taking out the nerve?

I am a bit lost myself so maybe I have to take a trip and talk subject over with dentist as they can see it, might be to difficult here.

Cheers.

ballsymchugh

items wrote: »

Sorry about the description, its the best I could do from memory.

All I know is dentist had to take out tooth, what ever tooth left after the break was not enough to attach anything onto. The replacement I now have is fixed, I cant take it out, I take it its fixed into metal receiver located inside my gum, that might give a reason towards taking out the nerve?

I am a bit lost myself so maybe I have to take a trip and talk subject over with dentist as they can see it, might be to difficult here.

Cheers.

actually, i'd get a better idea if you gave me a time frame. was it done over a matter of a few weeks, or over about 6 months?? did you have anything temporary for a while? and what did you pay, roughly??

items

ballsymchugh wrote: »

actually, i'd get a better idea if you gave me a time frame. was it done over a matter of a few weeks, or over about 6 months?? did you have anything temporary for a while? and what did you pay, roughly??

Cheers, just trying to think back as were talking mid to late 90's.

From what I remember it was all done in a matter of days, could of been just two visits. First visit most of work took place, I remember having to go around with tooth missing for a few days, then had replacement fitted after second visit.

Price not sure as folks forked out @ time, I remember a debate going on during first visit, to fix a ceramic one or a plastic type. Money must of been tight at the time so I had plastic fitted. Couldn't of been more than a few hundred pounds.

I had one visit to dentist since then, had one filling and dentist recommended I had false tooth removed / replaced because dentist felt I will experience some problems in future, dentist saw a darkness in gum above false tooth and that was the main concern but the darkness had been there since false tooth fitted. To be honest since that visit I haven't had any problems apart from the fact false tooth is slightly off color.

The dentist who recommended having false tooth replaced hadn't the experience to take on the task and referred me to a specialist and from a quick consultation I heard mention of figures of around 700 euro +. I found the figure a bit high during the time for something that really wasn't bothering me so I never really went ahead with it.

That was about 5 years ago, just to give you an idea.

Cheers for your help.

ballsymchugh

ok, sounds to me like you had a temporary acrylic crown with a post in the root. if it was done in a couple of weeks and that cheap it def wasn't an implant.
the margins of those crowns are never great, so they tend to irritate the hell out of the gums which is why it was brought up the last time you were there. the gums go dark red when inflammed.
generally you have 5 options.
1. do nothing
2. extract and implant
3. extract and denture
4. new crown
5. extract and bridge.

if i've been reading this right, sounds like you'd be ok with a new crown. a good technician can make one seem perfectly natural, and it shouldn't irritate the gum at all. the acrylic ones tend to be generic, but a porcelain one will be custom made to yours only.
if fitz reads this he'll be able to advise you better though. it's his domain.

items

Great, thanks for that. Just had a quick read over the procedures you mention above.

What is a post in root?

Just had a quick look at implant procedure, it reminds me on what dentist had done at time, drilled up into gum after tooth removed, popped in a piece of metal, then after a few days, I went back and the false tooth was almost forced up into the piece of metal. It's just like a real tooth, I can bite with it etc.

Maybe the post in root procedure is similar? If so that would be great, had a quick look at prices of replacing crowns, I'd say I can have a good job done with the funds I have available.

If its an implant, looks like figures in excess of thousands to have new implant fitted.

Is it possible to place a veneer over implant? Will the special adhesive take to acrylic?

Thanks again.

ballsymchugh

a post is used to hold a crown when there isn't enough tooth structure above the gum level to retain the crown. before the post is put in, you need root canal treatment, ie removing the nerve and filling and sealing the space it occupied. the post is usually made in the lab as a custom fitting and then cemented into the root that has been treated.
however, if, say, you needed something in a hurry, or didn't have the funds, then you can get a generic post placed in the root canal and an acrylic crown placed on top as a temporary measure.
i'm a bit confused again though, maybe you had an implant placed straight after extraction, but the dentist placing these has to be excellent at extracting the root without damaging the bone around it to increase the success. and not many specialists would opt for placing the false tooth over an implant so soon. i say most, i'm basing this entirely on a chat i had with a specialist last week. if you did have an implant done, then you'd know by the price you paid. implants in dublin with specialists at the moment are about €2900.
as for the crown of an implant, it's custom made to take into consideration the make of implant, the angulation, the shape of the teeth around it and the shape of the same tooth on the opposite side, so the acrylic would be done away with. that's if i've been picturing this right all along.

items

Cheers, sounds like I have some from of post / crown. The figure I was given to have replacement a while back was well below implant figures so 95% sure its a crown I have.

That's grand, least I have an idea and I know a fair bit more than I did yesterday, I can go ringing about now. One last thing, I'll probably be out of work soon, is this something that can be done on Medical Card, I've never had one so no idea how it goes.

Thanks for your help.

eastmayo

Not sure if this the right place to ask...but emailed a dentist in sligo about my fear of injections..and they said they use vibeject..i googled it and cant see any info on it...anyone no what it is.?thanks in advance