What Can You Do If You Develop Infections Under a Crown?

What Is a Dental Crown?

It is an indirect restoration for repairing and restoring tooth structures. Dental crowns are tooth-shaped appliances created after the impressions of your natural tooth. NW Calgary crowns are fashioned for restoring the top part of a tooth, ideally replacing damaged enamel. It encapsulates the tooth as a cap would.

How Do Dental Crowns Work?

Dental crowns work by creating a new external framework for the tooth. In this way, a dental crown replaces the damaged tooth’s natural structure, improving its strength and functionality. Therefore, the new framework will increase the life of your natural tooth, sparing you the need for tooth extraction procedures. Besides, a dental crown near you mimics the appearance of a natural tooth in color, shape, and size. After proper installation, you can hardly tell the difference between a newly crowned tooth and your natural teeth.

What Should You Expect When Getting Dental Crowns?

When you visit your NW Calgary dentist, prepare yourself for things you should anticipate for dental crown procedures. Some of the things to expect during your treatment for dental crowns near you are:

1. Numbing – the dentist must numb your mouth to ensure you experience a painless procedure. In some cases, patients need sedation dentistry to calm their nerves, relax their bodies and reduce gag reflexes, allowing for a successful treatment.
2. Enamel preparation – the dentist begins to prepare your tooth by shaving off the enamel. The goal is to remove all the damaged tooth structure while creating room for a dental crown.
3. Preparation of the tooth crown – to create a dental cap, the dentist will take impressions of your mouth and create a digital mold that will guide the design and fit of your crown. A dental crown is typically developed in a laboratory over about two weeks. Meanwhile, the dentist will place a temporary crown over your tooth to protect it before your permanent one is ready.
4. Crown installation – the final step of the procedure typically occurs in a different dental visit. The dentist will use special dental cement to bond the crown to your tooth. Lasers help cure and harden the cement to strengthen the bond of the restorative work.

Can Your Tooth Get Infected After a Dental Crown?

At Springhill Dental, we ensure to sensitize your patients that no dental restoration is invincible. You will incur an infection if you are not keen to care for your oral cavity proactively after getting dental crowns. Oral infections with dental crowns do not typically appear on the porcelain shell. Instead, the infection will manifest underneath the tooth crown, impacting your remaining natural tooth structure. Some indicators of infection under a crown are:

1. Heightened tooth sensitivity.
2. A loose dental crown.
3. A toothache on the treated tooth.
4. A dark line at the base of the tooth near the gum line – where the dental crown edge is.

What Can Cause Infection Under a Dental Crown?

You are likely to incur a tooth infection under your dental crown due to the following factors:

1. Poor oral hygiene.
2. Wearing a temporary tooth crown for too long.
3. An ill-fitting dental crown – allows room for bacteria to slip into your tooth.
4. A malfunctioned crown – a cracked, broken, or loosened crown can attract an infection to your tooth.
5. A traumatized nerve – the tooth crown might place unnecessary pressure on an already traumatized nerve.
6. Excessive teeth grinding – placing significant pressure on the tooth.

What Should You Do When You Develop the Infection?

The first thing you must think about after infection is calling your dentist. Let them know about the symptoms you are experiencing regarding the newly treated tooth. However, before you get to the dental office, consider the following tips:

1. Keep the tooth clean – do not continue to create a conducive environment for the infection to exacerbate and spread.
2. Take pain medication – to alleviate the pain and swelling.
3. Saltwater rinse – salt will disinfect the mouth by killing active bacteria, hence curbing the spread of the infection.
4. Avoid problematic foods – chewy, sticky, and hard foods will only worsen your pain or further damage the crown.