Never Take Your Healthy Teeth for Granted

If you have had crowns on some of your teeth for a long time and one or more of them starts hurting, you may be dealing with one or more cavities underneath them. Keep in mind that crowns are covering parts of your teeth, so cavities are possible if you get food particles trapped under the crown one or you do not properly care for your teeth every day. No matter what the reason is you may have a cavity underneath a crown, visiting your dentist about it important. Find out more about what can be done to stop the pain of a cavity underneath a crown.

Look Closely At The Tooth That Is Hurting

If you are able to see the cavity on a crowned tooth and it is as small as the tip of a pin, the chances are high you can have it filled without interfering with the crown. However, if a part of the smallest cavity reaches underneath the crown, your dentist will have to remove the crown, repair the cavity and make a new crown. Cavities left unchecked, even small ones the size of a pin, can end up growing under the crown, causing greater pain and discomfort.

When There Is No Visible Cavity                                                                  

In many cases, a cavity will form under a crown and is not visible to the naked eye. Your dentist will not be able to take x-rays for determining whether there is a cavity because of the metal used in crowns causes a poor image result. Until your dentist removes the crown, the extent of decay is hard to determine. If the tooth is decayed too much, it will have to be extracted. However, if there is enough of the tooth left to save after the cavity's decay has been cleaned out and removed, you will need a new crown made and put back on.

Replacing Crowns After A Cavity Is Repaired

When your dentist removes the decay from a cavity, it usually involves taking the damaged parts of the tooth as well. For this reason, you will need to have a larger crown put back on. For some patients, a prosthodontist's expertise is needed to fashion a crown that is bigger or needs to cover a great deal of tooth than normal.

Even though dental crowns and implants are not real teeth, they are in real gum tissue and are adhered to your natural teeth, meaning you still need to perform dental hygiene every day.