Constant crown awareness
 

Hi there,

I've had a molar extracted about two years ago. I've had two titanium implants inserted 3 months ago, one for a premolar that never grew and another for the molar that got extracted. At the beginning of this week, I've had two temporary crowns fitted on my implants until my orthodontic treatment gets completed.

Ever since, I've been acutely aware of the molar crown. At first, I thought it was only a matter of adapting to the new objects in my mouth but I realized that the crown overlaps the gum. In comparison, a regular tooth "erupts" from the bone and gums and is a perfect fit with the surrounding tissues. This molar crown instead creates a little "pocket" between itself and the gums, as if it were too large even though its proportions seems kind of in line with the rest of the teeth. Furthermore, during suction, my cheek gets sucked in that little space and has now formed a small bulge; it doesn't hurt but since it's innervated, I'm constantly aware of that small defect and it makes for a rather annoying (and constant!) feeling.

Could something be done about it? Would the problem be solved once the permanent crowns are placed? Did I lose bone mass between the time the molar got extracted and the implant, making for too narrow a surface for the crown to fit properly?

I know my issue is rather trivial in comparison to what other members usually post but I can't ask my dentist about it since he's on vacation and the prospect of having to adapt to this kind of feeling makes me anxious so any kind of feedback would be really appreciated.

It's kind of hard to describe adequately so here are a couple of pictures.

Hi Cheesum,

These are great photos...thanks for sharing them!

It looks like the molar temp crown is slightly under contoured at the gum line on the area facing your cheek towards the back of the tooth. This is called the distal buccal or distal facial side of the tooth. So when you suck your cheeks in like when drinking through a straw, your cheek can get caught on that edge. I can see where you have a little soft tissue tag on your cheek. Is that related to this?

The awareness of this crown and the tissue tag will probably become less noticeable as time goes on. The tag may or may not go away. It is important for your dentist to see this so he makes the permanent crown different than the temp. So perhaps if you call his office the day he returns from vacation they can fit you in. I don't know if there is anything he can do to this temp crown to fill in that space... perhaps some composite filling would work, but it may not. He may have to make a new temp.

The other thing you could try in the mean time is.... if you have some ortho wax, you could lay a piece of it in that under contoured area of the crown near the gum line. Some drug stores sell orthodontic wax.

Let us know what he says.

Bryanna

Thank you so much for your reply, Bryanna!

It's good to know there's actually something wrong with the crown and it's not just my anxious mind playing tricks on me as well as relieved that something can be done about it. The little tag of flesh is indeed related to the issue and appeared shortly after the temporary crown got put in place.

I'll update the thread once I manage to talk to my dentist.

In the meantime, I wish you a very merry Christmas and all the best for the new year! =)