Usually there is metal underneath the porcelain or the crown is made entirely of metal. This metal makes it impossible for the tooth structure inside of the crown to be seen on a radiograph (x ray). When decay under a crown is small, it is often difficult to detect.
While you may feel some pain under the crown, this may not occur until the decay is already at a late stage. With regular dental check-ups, your dentist will be able to perform an x-ray of your teeth to determine whether there is any damage or decay underneath your crown.
A cavity under a crown can be difficult to treat, and may require a root canal. Your dentist will likely recommend removing the infected tissue from your tooth if the cavity has become infected. After a root canal, you will need to have another crown placed on your tooth.
Brown and Grey Spots in the Affected Area
Brown and grey spot formations are a distinct visual indicator of a potential infection or tooth decay under a dental crown. Spots can be visible on the white portion of a veneer, almost appearing like mould.
It is very rare that an old crown can be saved or reused since it will typically need to be cut into sections as it is removed from the tooth. For your comfort, the tooth and gum tissue will be numbed with a local anesthetic during this procedure.
Is it normal for my tooth to look black under my crown? It's not supposed to darken. Most of the time, tooth discoloration is caused by bacteria getting in the dental crown. It can also be the result of an inadequate seal on the crown.
Cavity detecting dental x-rays are helpful in determining the seriousness of a cavity. They can also detect and reveal decay particularly in between the teeth. The earlier we catch a cavity, or the start of one, the more chance we have to actually REVERSE it, or keep it small!
You might have decay beneath a dental crown if your dentist left roughness at the margin or if there is a tiny gap. Roughness or a gap attracts plaque and leaves the area at risk for decay. When placing a crown, a dentist must ensure that the area where your crown and tooth meet is smooth and gap free.
First, a cavity can only be seen on an x-ray once it has dissolved 20-30% of the tooth structure so it may not have been obvious last visit. And cavities can grow fast on some patients! Second, some teeth have rotations and malalignments that cause cavities to be very elusive from standard x-ray positions.
In an X-ray, cavities are seen as dark areas in a tooth. Cavities start at the outside layer covering the tooth, called the Enamel, which has the lightest color in an X-ray. Cavities will then advance to the layer under enamel, called the Dentin, which is softer and has a darker color than enamel in an X-ray.
A crown is connected to a natural tooth underneath it. Because of this, decay can form around the edges of a crown. The only way to permanently fix a crown with decay around the edges is to remove the old crown, remove the decay, and do a new crown.
In most cases, a black line forms because the metal from the crown is showing through. Since older dental crowns are typically made of porcelain fused to metal, the metal will eventually become exposed as the gumline moves and recedes over time.
Damage to the underlying tooth is one of the main reasons crowns need to be replaced. Other than that, there is no specific type of toothpaste you have to use for dental crowns. Most general kinds of toothpaste are fine, with the possible exception of whitening toothpaste.
Crown removal is not a painful procedure, and it doesn't take long for your dentist to remove it. Your dentist will not even use an anesthetic to remove and add in the permanent crown.
When your teeth become cracked, the crown becomes unstable due to the broken foundation. This is one reason why your crown may hurt. If you have recently undergone a crown replacement and it hurts for up to a week after treatment, your crown may have been placed incorrectly or has not bonded properly to your tooth.
You can replace the crown as many times as you want if there is nothing wrong with it. What we mean by that is that there is no tooth decay underneath the cap. In this case, your dentist can simply remove it and just remake a new one without harming the underlying tooth structure.
When you are suffering from a tooth infection, you may want an easy solution, such as a course of antibiotics. However, antibiotics won't cure your tooth infection.
Oral bacteria are tricky little rascals, and they can make their way underneath a crown, particularly if the person does not have good oral hygiene. When these bacteria get underneath the crown, they begin to convert any sugars that make their way into the crown to acids that eat away at enamel.
How is a root canal performed on a tooth with a crown? At Knight Dental Care, Dr. Knight can either remove the crown before drilling into the tooth to create an access hole or drill this access hole through the crown. If this happens, then the crown will need to be replaced as it will be weakened.
In the case of a deeper cavity that has reached the pulp or nerve canals, you may notice a bad taste in your mouth. Severe spontaneous pain, pain to pressure, pain that wakes you up at night and pain to hot are often signs of an infected nerve.
Laser Cavity Detection
Cavities can start out as microscopic defects under the tooth's tough enamel. Oral exams and x-rays can't always diagnose decay on the subsurface level of your tooth. For this, your dentist may turn to the use of a laser cavity detection device. With this device, lightwave refraction is used.
A person having a deep cavity may feel a toothache or pain while eating, drinking, or biting down, a strong sensitivity to hot, cold, or sweet food/drinks, bad taste or bad breath in the mouth, or can even feel a hole or crack in the tooth with the help of tongue.