WILL MY FILLINGS FALL OUT IF I FLOSS?
That is a question that I recently received from a new patient. He does not floss his teeth because he once had a filling fall out when he flossed. He also informed me that he now has a loose filling and he doesn't want to floss because it could come out.
I reassured the patient that if a filling is loose it will come out!
It has nothing to do with the floss or whether the hygienist touched it during a cleaning. If it is loose it is loose and it is going to fall out. Better it should happen sooner then later so you can have it repaired as soon as possible. The longer you wait with a loose filling in your mouth the more the tooth will decay under the filling and the greater damage done to the tooth.
To recap (no pun intended), a filling will not fall out because of flossing. It will only fall out if there is an existing problem with the filling.
Having fun doing dentistry in Hamilton Ontario Canada.
All the best
Dr. Ron Barzilay
www.rondentist.com
Showing posts with label Decay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Decay. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Monday, January 13, 2014
DO I NEED TOOTH WHITENING?
Do I need tooth whitening?
I have been asked this question so many times. I can tell you that my answers have changed over the years. First of all we have to ask some precursor questions.
What is white? We look at someone's teeth and you see white, yellow and gray. (Sometimes you also see black but this is usually due to decay so whitening won't help that problem.) People have different shades of these colors in their teeth. Some people have yellower teeth, some have grey teeth. Children can have especially white teeth. There really is no such thing as true white when it comes to your natural tooth. It is made up of a combination of colors, brightness, intensities that give us the color of the tooth that we see.
The next question is what should the color of ones teeth be? Well when we couldn't do anything about it, as you grew older, your teeth yellowed with the years. Before whitening we would say to people that it looks natural for someone your age to have yellow teeth. If they really objected to the color of their teeth then we would place porcelain crowns on all of their teeth. Today, with whitening and so many people who have already whitened their teeth, we see more and more people of all ages with very white teeth. As we have gotten used to this, a new norm has been created.
Taking all of this into account, my answer to the original question is No you do not need whitening. Nothing will happen to you or your teeth if they are not white but if you want whitening I will be very happy to do it for you as more and more people today have whiter teeth.
All the best
Dr. Ron Barzilay
Having fun doing Dentistry in Hamilton Ontario
www.rondentist.com
I have been asked this question so many times. I can tell you that my answers have changed over the years. First of all we have to ask some precursor questions.
What is white? We look at someone's teeth and you see white, yellow and gray. (Sometimes you also see black but this is usually due to decay so whitening won't help that problem.) People have different shades of these colors in their teeth. Some people have yellower teeth, some have grey teeth. Children can have especially white teeth. There really is no such thing as true white when it comes to your natural tooth. It is made up of a combination of colors, brightness, intensities that give us the color of the tooth that we see.
The next question is what should the color of ones teeth be? Well when we couldn't do anything about it, as you grew older, your teeth yellowed with the years. Before whitening we would say to people that it looks natural for someone your age to have yellow teeth. If they really objected to the color of their teeth then we would place porcelain crowns on all of their teeth. Today, with whitening and so many people who have already whitened their teeth, we see more and more people of all ages with very white teeth. As we have gotten used to this, a new norm has been created.
Taking all of this into account, my answer to the original question is No you do not need whitening. Nothing will happen to you or your teeth if they are not white but if you want whitening I will be very happy to do it for you as more and more people today have whiter teeth.
All the best
Dr. Ron Barzilay
Having fun doing Dentistry in Hamilton Ontario
www.rondentist.com
Saturday, August 25, 2012
I had a root canal many years ago and since the crown falls out all the time and it bleeds and smells really bad.
Sometimes you get a letter with questions that touch on numerous issues. I received one such letter this past week and I would like to share it with you.
Wow, these are great questions I thought I would put up this letter on the blog for discussion. There are a lot of important issues that have been brought up here that deserve discussion and many things that I have seen throughout my years of practise.
1) Why has this crown been falling off since it was placed. A properly place crown does not fall off. If this crown has been falling off since it was placed we can only assume that it was not placed properly. Meaning that perhaps the underlying tooth is too short to give retention to the crown and if so it may be necessary to lengthen the underling tooth or find retention by another method. Another reason the crown could come off would be if the tooth was rotten underneath but we will assume that this was not the case since it was coming off from the beginning and a new crown would not have decay underneath. My question here to the writer would be, how many years ago was the crown done? and what does falls out all the time mean?
2) Bleeding gums and a bad smell around a crown can mean that the crown is loose and bacteria is getting in around the crown causing inflammation of the gums. ( when you touch inflammed gums they bleed). Also, if the crown is loose and bacteria and debris are getting between the tooth and the crown you can get decay of the tooth and supporation of the debris leading to bad odour.
3) Is the crown falling off related to the missed canal and pain you were having? No. The missed canal will not cause the crown to come off. It most definetly may be the cause of your pain among other possible reasons (such as a moving crown or a cracked tooth).
4) If you get a new crown on the tooth, will it keeping falling out? You must get a new crown on the tooth and if it is done properly should not fall out as the original should not have fallen out. Remember, the crown holding onto a tooth is just related to the physical properties of the tooth. In other words, if the crown has what to hold it will hold. If it doesn't have what to hold we have to start thinking about either making the tooth longer so there is more of what to hold or perhaps extracting the tooth and placing an implant as a regular crown will not hold. You have to ask your dentist flat out "will this crown hold?"
5) Now this last question is really important. The patient say she has a huge hole there and wants to know how to keep it clean so it won't get infected. Her appointment for the new crown is in two weeks. Sometimes a hole is a result of the temporary filling being compressed into the crown space, in which case you may be getting bacterial leakage and you should go back to the dentist to top up the temporary filling. This is simple and not a problem. If for some reason there is no temporary crown or filling then that is a problem as bacteria can percolate through exposed root canals and cause reinfection of the canals. Speak to your dentist regarding this. The last issue here is also, as I have mentioned in point 1, if you are going to be having a new crown done in two weeks, ask your dentist what is different that now that will make the new crown stay on.
All the best
Dr. Ron Barzilay
Enjoying dentistry in Hamilton Ontario
www.rondentist.com
Feel free to post your comments and follow my blog.
Hello Dr Barzilay,
I had a root canal many years ago and since the crown falls out all the time and it bleeds and smells really bad. After telling my dentist over and over again they referred me to a specialist who just found out that the dentist who did the first root canal missed a canal and it got infected that's why i was having so much pain. My question is if i get a crown on it again will it keep falling out? Or did it fall out because it was infected. Also my appointment to get my crown on isnt until 2 weeks from now how do I keep this clean from getting infected again I have a huge hole there it is my number 3 tooth. Thanks
Wow, these are great questions I thought I would put up this letter on the blog for discussion. There are a lot of important issues that have been brought up here that deserve discussion and many things that I have seen throughout my years of practise.
1) Why has this crown been falling off since it was placed. A properly place crown does not fall off. If this crown has been falling off since it was placed we can only assume that it was not placed properly. Meaning that perhaps the underlying tooth is too short to give retention to the crown and if so it may be necessary to lengthen the underling tooth or find retention by another method. Another reason the crown could come off would be if the tooth was rotten underneath but we will assume that this was not the case since it was coming off from the beginning and a new crown would not have decay underneath. My question here to the writer would be, how many years ago was the crown done? and what does falls out all the time mean?
2) Bleeding gums and a bad smell around a crown can mean that the crown is loose and bacteria is getting in around the crown causing inflammation of the gums. ( when you touch inflammed gums they bleed). Also, if the crown is loose and bacteria and debris are getting between the tooth and the crown you can get decay of the tooth and supporation of the debris leading to bad odour.
3) Is the crown falling off related to the missed canal and pain you were having? No. The missed canal will not cause the crown to come off. It most definetly may be the cause of your pain among other possible reasons (such as a moving crown or a cracked tooth).
4) If you get a new crown on the tooth, will it keeping falling out? You must get a new crown on the tooth and if it is done properly should not fall out as the original should not have fallen out. Remember, the crown holding onto a tooth is just related to the physical properties of the tooth. In other words, if the crown has what to hold it will hold. If it doesn't have what to hold we have to start thinking about either making the tooth longer so there is more of what to hold or perhaps extracting the tooth and placing an implant as a regular crown will not hold. You have to ask your dentist flat out "will this crown hold?"
5) Now this last question is really important. The patient say she has a huge hole there and wants to know how to keep it clean so it won't get infected. Her appointment for the new crown is in two weeks. Sometimes a hole is a result of the temporary filling being compressed into the crown space, in which case you may be getting bacterial leakage and you should go back to the dentist to top up the temporary filling. This is simple and not a problem. If for some reason there is no temporary crown or filling then that is a problem as bacteria can percolate through exposed root canals and cause reinfection of the canals. Speak to your dentist regarding this. The last issue here is also, as I have mentioned in point 1, if you are going to be having a new crown done in two weeks, ask your dentist what is different that now that will make the new crown stay on.
All the best
Dr. Ron Barzilay
Enjoying dentistry in Hamilton Ontario
www.rondentist.com
Feel free to post your comments and follow my blog.
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