Thread: Gap Toothed

If you end up looking like this then it's money well spent!

Originally Posted by Lionelgee

HelloAll,

I had a cracked molar that due to a strategic filling had held together happily for eight years. Without any health issues with the tooth it cracked again close to a nerve and I had to have emergency root canal work done on it. Two weeks later the tooth had, according to my dentist a "catastrophic failure" along the crack. As a result the tooth was deemed beyond repair and it was extracted. Lucky for me this was before I had to pay for a full root canal job that would have cost over $1.2K. There was no guarantee that such a repair would last because of the way the crack showed up on the x-ray as meandering into unknown depths when the image was taken during the emergency work.

So now I am left with one less molar; it is my first missing tooth and I am in my fifties. I have four options open to me in a couple of months: a plate; a crown performed either side of the missing molar that forms a bridge which holds a false tooth; something else - I cannot recall what; or option four - leaving a gap.

I am not fussed with the concept of having a gap. What have you had done when faced with the same situation of being down a tooth? I would appreciate your responses.

Kind Regards
Lionel

Leave a gap

Just do what the rest of us do and chew on the other side until the hole heals ?
There are Not too many of us old farts that still have a full head of teeth

Had one taken out 25 years ago, couldn't face the root canal stuff at the time. It annoyed me for a while but I hardly notice it now. Plenty more left in there to tear apart a chicken leg.

Originally Posted by trout1105

Just do what the rest of us do and chew on the other side until the hole heals ?
There are Not too many of us old farts that still have a full head of teeth

G'day Trout,

that's exactly what I have been doing. Then I was in pain for most of last week on the side without the hole. Turns out I had a "food pack" or impacted food settling between the gum and the molar which infected the gum. Two more damn needles in the jaw while the dentist cleaned it out. Now I have to use dental picks - wire coated with fluffy cotton. It was not my planned way to spend an RDO!

Been getting away with annual check-ups for years without needing anything done. This year well that shaped up to be a different story.

Kind Regards
Lionel

These are good, especially if you have implants etc.

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Turns out I had a "food pack" or impacted food settling between the gum and the molar which infected the gum. Two more damn needles in the jaw while the dentist cleaned it out.

OUCH.
My dentist also put me onto those "Pipe Cleaner type" tooth picks as well They are a fantastic product
I have had many serious injuries But a Tooth Ache has to be to most painful and annoying out of the lot.
I hope everything comes good soon Mate.

I had a molar out a few years ago- quite an experience as it broke into several bits and the young dentist really sweated getting it out. I wasn't going to pay the $5k or so it would have taken to save it.
The hole is really annoying for a couple of months but the gum grows over the hole after a while and just leaves a gap. Plenty of teeth left to chew with, not an issue at all.