Dental crown crumbling away!

[CJ0374]

12yrs ago, I had root canal treatment then a porcelain crown with a metal core put on, but over the last year, the porcelain has been breaking off. I've seen my dentist twice and she said its fine to leave it as is, with just the metal left. Apparently I can have a new crown, but it would require her cutting off the metal which is time consuming and tricky.
Has anyone has this done- either new crown or just left it or know what is involved? Can I really just leave the metal core or would a whole, new crown be better long term?

The actual work of the crown is done by the metal structure underneath. The porcelain on top is just to make it look nicer.

On back teeth an all metal crown may be better, in fact, because less tooth needs to be cut away to allow space for the porcelain.

Quite often porcelain wears or breaks , particularly on back teeth, to expose the metal underneath . It doesn't affect the integrity of the crown , but is a problem if food starts to pack inbetween teeth because of it. Then a new crown is definitely needed.

@Lollygaggle It has been annoying, because food has been getting stuck and I'm now consciously eating more on the other side-for fear of more breaking off. Maybe once all the porcelain has come off it will be bearable?

I've got this with one of my crowns and saw my dentist this week. Same advice you've had re the metal bit is the important bit and the porcelain is to make it look nice. But, by losing some height to the tooth, your bite may be affected. I need to think about what to do as well.

Yesterday, the entire metal crown fell out! Of course it happened on a bank holiday and I think my dentist is now on holidays 😩

@SwedishEdith In hindsight, I wished I'd just had to replaced when the issues started a year ago. I've had food stuck, ceramic crumbling off and was eating on the other side. The dentist did made it sounds very tricky to remove the metal but I never knew it would just fall out!