Any dentists about? Need information on making decision about crowns.

[Booboostwo]

I went to the dentist today about a sensitive tooth and she noticed that three of my other teeth need crowns. None of the three teeth is bothering me at the moment but they have large fillings, last redone ten years ago.

The dentist said that doing nothing risks the tooth breaking whereas crowns have no risks and she pushed strongly for them. I did mention that none of my English dentists have recommended this before and asked if there were maybe different guidelines in France about the timing of crowns, but she didn't know either way.

A quick google suggests that crowns may irritate the nerve and may worsen TMJ (which I have but to a manageable degree). I am also phobic about dental work, which may be affecting my decision, but I want to resume the crowns for the moment.

Stupid idea? Any suggestions on readings on the evidence for the best timing for a crown baring emergencies?

"Delay the crowns", don't know where "resume" came from,

Nothing to add other than I just read the thread title as "I need to make a decision about clowns". I'm more tired than I realised

Clowns would be easier. I don't like clowns so I am certainly not having three clowns in my house!

Christ almighty! "Mouth" not "house".

I give up

I'm not a dentist but if the tooth breaks you could get it crowned then. You could get a second opinion.

The advantages of crowning a heavily restored tooth:
Helps protect the tooth : less likely to crack so it makes it stronger. In a severely weakened tooth you may get more longevity.
If it's visable tooth can improve appearance.

Disadvantages:
If the tooth hasn't been root treated it takes away more tooth tissue and may make devitalisation (nerve dying) more likely over a period of time.
Will need replacing at some point.
You still need to clean it carefully around the margins to make sure you don't get secondary decay.
When they do fail it can often be catastrophically so the tooth underneath is unsavable.
Expensive.

I would have a chat with your dentist about pros and cons and ask about bonded fillings as an alternative if they are suitable. (Private)
She should take X-rays of them if she's planning to crown them and can explain her reasoning behind each tooth.

Ultimately it's six and half a dozen but make an informed choice that you are happy with. Be aware that with heavily restored teeth and or decay the teeth will fail at some point, it's just the way the cookie crumbles and try to be happy for each remaining year you get out of them!!
Hope this helps

Was it one of those new, fairly commercial dentists? Because the 3 times I went to one of those, she was always pushing for more work, and the work she did actually turned out terribly (fillings falling out).

I'd find one of those dentists that's somewhere in a street off the highstreet, that's been there for 30 years and get a second opinion if I were you.

I have some massive fillings, and 3 crowns - I've not had any hassle from the crowns, but my dentist is keeping an eye on one of the big fillings, and last year I had one replaced with a crown when it started to look dodgy.

I am getting an X-ray done for next week so maybe that will help clarify matters. I al worried about the drilling needed for a crown disturbing the nerve, I already have sensitive teeth, and the possibility of worsening my TMJ.

I'm in France so maybe the high street analogy doesn't quite apply? I don't know. She's a dentist surgeon so must have some decent experience, here all dentists do social security work (and in fact most of the work they do is paid by social security), but it doesn't make a difference to me as I have private insurance. She is the only dentist within a couple of hours drive who uses laughing gas, so she sees a lot of children and people with mental disability who might otherwise struggle with dental treatment. I can only get the crowns done with the gas!!!

She is already my second opinion! My usual dentist wanted to do root canal on a tooth that hurts me. She thinks it's a slightly exposed nerve that's causing the problem and can be treated locally - the good news - but she also picked up on the other three teeth which my regular dentist has not mentioned.

What a palaver!

Wow, I could have written your post! Moved to France 2 years ago and only just got round to visiting a dentist recently (although went very regularly when living in UK). New dentist has said I need around €2,000 of work doing!! Including crowns, replacing fillings etc. I have private insurance too so it's not the cost per se, more is it necessary. I wonder if, in France, they are less likely to do patch up jobs than in the U.K. Because of the different way medical care is paid for? (No disrespect to U.K. dentists intended). Certainly when I've visited the Dr in France they have been much more thorough than my U.K. GP ever was.

Lentil my impression of French health care I should that cost I still less of an issue for public health care provision than it is for the NHS, but that research is not always up to date...but that is a massive generalisation!!! What will you do? Go for the treatment or wait?

The dentist broke down treatment into urgent and non-urgent but I need to go back and have her explain it all to me with my partner who's French and can help with the more technical terminology so I know exactly what she wants to do before I agree to anything. I'm torn because my previous English dentist always said my teeth were fine but then as soon as I see the French dentist suddenly I need lots of work doing. But I have been putting up with fairly constant low-level pain/discomfort with my teeth for ages so I suspected I did need something doing. X-rays showed I had decay underneath ancient fillings which all needs digging out and patching up, plus crowns on at least one, if not two teeth where there's more filling than tooth. All scary sounding stuff

I know this is not the most exciting thread ever, but if anyone is interested in an update here it is.

My x-rays are fine, no decay and no cracked teeth. I tried a bit of nitrous oxide for the work on the tooth that hurts but it went really wrong. I found it very upsetting and started sobbing uncontrollabl. So we gave up on that and I had the local injection.

I am very disappointed the nitrous oxide is not for me as that could have helped in the future. For now I am leaving my other fillings alone and will reconsider the crowns if I have problems.