Dr. Katrina M. Schroeder, D.M.D.

The simplest way to get rid of the gum pain from wisdom teeth is to have the wisdom teeth removed. The gum pain from the tooth is from several causes. First, the tooth is trying to erupt (come into your mouth), but most people do not have enough room, so the tooth pushes up the gums around it, which can cause pain, it may come in only part way so that food becomes trapped between your tooth and your gums, which can cause pain, or it can be tilted so that food becomes caught between the wisdom tooth and the adjacent tooth, which can cause pain. For these reasons, it is often best to remove the tooth. If your tooth is in a position where it can be kept and your gingiva is inflamed, then sometimes cleaning the area to remove debris can relieve the pain, as can surgical procedures to remove the inflamed, swollen gum tissue may relieve the pain. If you have already had the tooth removed and the area is in pain, then healing will relieve it. The best way to heal is to keep the area very very clean while not damaging the area. Brushing gently and rinsing with salt water helps. Keeping foods you eat away from the area helps. Avoiding crunchy, poky, sharp foods and foods with little bits (like those tiny star shaped noodles found in some soups) helps.

While it is hard to determine how quickly a bone graft will heal (because I do not know the size, location, if any other things were used in conjunction with it like PRP or BMP), the best way to have your graft heal as quickly as possible is to keep yourself as healthy as possible. That means do not smoke/vape/use any tobacco products (nicotine is a vasoconstrictor and will slow healing). That means eating a well-balanced diet, ensuring you get enough nutrients from all categories without overdoing it on anything. This means ensuring you maintain good hygiene of the area (you should have been given directions for this by the surgeon that did the graft). If you have are removable prosthesis (denture or partial) making sure it does not put any pressure onto the graft area, and if it does, remove it until you are able to have it adjusted. This means avoiding getting sick, if possible, avoiding excess stress, if possible. All the things to keep yourself as healthy as possible. If you have not had the graft done yet, then the things to look for are a practitioner that will use good surgical techniques (this is the most important part). If appropriate for your graft, PRP (platelet rich plasma) or BMP (Bone morphogenic protein) can be used with the graft and may speed healing. But these are if appropriate for your graft. While good surgical techniques are important, the most important part is how well you take care of the grafted area afterward. Other than that, it is your body healing, and that takes time. Bone grafts are not fast, and the larger the graft, the longer it takes.

The best advice that I can give it to go back to your dentist. This is the best way to find out why the crown came off. There are numerous possible reasons, such as a cavity forming under the crown, or a fracture of the tooth, or wearing a hole in the crown. Sometimes it is just something simple and the crown can be re-cemented, sometimes it cannot. It is best to bring the crown with you to your appointment.

Coffee can stain your teeth, however, the stain from coffee is usually brown/yellow staining. Anything that can stain a white cotton T-shirt can stain your teeth. While the coffee is probably contributing to your stain, it may not be the whole source of the stain. Therefore, I would recommend seeing your dentist to rule out other issues, such as cavities and calculus, both of which are common to have a blackish color.

The usual for a crown being cemented is that you can eat most foods after an hour. You can also brush normally after an hour. With the cements that I use, you will want to treat the tooth like a temporary crown for the first 24 hours, meaning avoiding chewy and sticky foods and if you floss, floss toward your gums then pull out to the side, do not pull back toward the biting surface until that same time the next day. As a side note, my cements say you can drink anything you like after 15 minutes, however my patients tell me that it is cement flavored for 45 minutes. So just giving you the flavor warning that you might not want your favorite flavored beverage until after that time.