Andreoletti & Stein, DDS, Grand Junction Dentists and Dental Care

Patient Instruction

Crown, Bridge, and Veneer

Take care eating until your mouth has completely awakened. If you do need to eat, a smoothie or shake are great for nourishment and ease of eating.

Your tooth and gums will likely be sore for a few days due to having been worked on. Warm salt water rinses will tend to ease the gum tissue soreness.

Crowns and bridges take two or more appointments (usually two). Today’s appointment gives our wonderful lab the materials they need to make a beautiful crown for you. It normally takes the lab about 3 weeks to make the crown. Your tooth has a temporary crown on it today that will need to be on until the definitive crown is ready. The temporary crown holds all the other teeth in their respectful places just as your normal tooth structure would have done. It is intentionally placed with a weak adhesive, so it will be easy to remove once the definitive crown is ready.

The temporary crown is made of acrylic and does not reflect the vitality, texture, or shape of the definitive crown. If you have chosen a porcelain crown, the definitive crown will look much more realistic. The gold crown will be smoother and have a much more realistic shape.

Taking care of your temporary:

Do not eat anything sticky or crunchy.
When you floss pull the floss straight out from between your teeth rather than pulling it back through where the teeth touch.
If the temporary comes off call us immediately. If it is not broken, place some toothpaste inside of it and place it back on the tooth. We will get you in and recement the temporary or make you a new one.
If the temporary feels high or feels not quite right when you bite down, call us for an adjustment appointment.

When you are in for the next visit we will remove the temporary, clean the tooth, make sure the definitive crown fits and looks the way we want it too, and a more definitive cement will be used to cement the crown in place.

Although the crown will never get a cavity, the tooth next to the crown still can and the materials the crown are made out of will wear out over time and need replacement. Crowns can last a long time with proper care. As with all medical and dental procedures no guarantees have been expressed or implied.

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