Dr. TIMOTHY RANDALL, DDS

Generally if there is not enough tooth structure to place a crown depend upon the circumstances sometimes A build-up with pins can be done to give more structure so a crown can be placed. Or if the tooth may need to have a root canal then a post can be placed with A build-up and a crown can then be placed on that.

Yes decay can form under a dental bridge that would be the same as a single crown. It is very important to keep the area around the bridge clean. The most critical area around a crown or bridge is where it meets the tooth that is called the margin. If that's not kept clean from bacteria it could start to cause Decay at that juncture and get underneath the bridge and then cause failure

First you would need to find out if it is the nerve within the tooth or it is that your teeth are hitting too hard against one another which can cause sensitivity also. Generally if the tooth is sensitive to hot and cold that's usually a sure sign that it's the nerve and you need a root canal. If it's just sporadic sensitivity that it could be that the tooth needs to be adjusted so it doesn't bite so hard or your teeth may not be aligned properly so there are many causes for sensitivity

There usually is a reason why your crown falls off. Sometimes it may be from eating very sticky chewy Foods, or if it's been in your mouth for a while there could be leakage and recurrent Decay forming. My recommendation would be to get in to see a dentist and have it looked at to determine the cause sometimes we can just re-cement if everything is okay. If this should ever happen to someone when you're away from your dentist you can use something to put it in temporarily I usually recommend denture adhesive.

If you think you have an infection in your gums you generally see bleeding when you brush but not always. You will know that you have a gum infection if you go to the dentist and they check what is called pocket readings with a little probe that has markings on it and they measure. Generally healthy gums are anything from 0 to 3 mm 4 mm and above is a sign of what's called a periodontal pocket. The way to treat this is by going to your dentist and they will do what's called a deep cleaning or the technical term would be scaling and root planing. After having this done generally 85% or so patients have a success of getting gums healthy again

Your tooth can still hurt for a number of reasons one maybe they didn't take it out of occlusion. After having the procedure done the tooth should be ground down so it doesn't hit the upper tooth or lower tooth putting forces on it. I have found with my 30-plus years of experience that patients can sometimes experience two to three days of pain and then all of a sudden it goes away and everything is fine. If you haven't already try using some ibuprofen just to get you through the harder part of the first few days and most likely everything will be fine

A week shouldn't be much time without wearing your retainer if you are able to put your retainer back in and it fits with no problem. And that means your teeth haven't moved at all. Just don't make this a habit.