Hi all especially Ali, hope your gums are healing well and the infection is clearing up.. i am due to have a crown prep next week on a root canaled tooth and being a severe dental phobic I am havein difficulty dealing with the whole thing, most of all 2 hours in the chair. can someone tell me what will happen and will they put something over the tooth whilst the crown is been made?, will it feel strange etc?. I have having inhaled sedation but even so i am thing about it 24 hrs a day and can't cope with the anxiety of it. The tooth is an upper pre molar and has had a temory filling in since feb. I had some unwanted veneers placed 3 years ago and I hate them to this day as they feel like marbles. will a crown feel this way?

Thanks

Hi Maz!!

Firstly, all is going well thanks hun, and have pencilled in an appointment for next Tues (25th) for remaining upper extractions under sedation - I can't wait to get these awful teeth out and get my new smile!!
Secondly, I understand completely that the "unknown" treatment is on your mind 24/7. It's totally natural unfortunately for us Phobics to feel that way - our minds play so awful tricks on us don't they - I mean, the tend to blow everything out of proportion when we try to imagine the "unknown". I know mine did that until recently, when I finally let my sensible side kick in and boot the illogical side out!! Easier said than done, but it really can be done, and I'd like to suggest that you either contact your dentist direct and ask what is specifically involved in your procedure (I wish I could help you there but I haven't a clue!), and/or do an internet search and find out what's involved - there are quite a few dental sites that go into great detail - this of course is something to be very careful of because it may to too overwhelming for you to cope with, so I would strongly suggest speaking to your dentist, and asking him/her to sugar coat the details but explain what will happen - I am assuming the dentist knows you are phobic? If not, now is definately the time to mention it! I hope you are "happy" and feel comfortable with your dentist, and feel you can trust him/her implicitly. This is another pre-requisite for us phobic I feel. Please try and talk to him/her (or even the dental nurse) to alleviate some of your fears and make sure they know exactly how you feel about it!
Hope this helps. Please let us know how you get on, and come to us with any more worries/queries/whatever :)
Take care
Luv n hugs
Ali
xxx

Hi all especially Ali, hope your gums are healing well and the infection is clearing up.. i am due to have a crown prep next week on a root canaled tooth and being a severe dental phobic I am havein difficulty dealing with the whole thing, most of all 2 hours in the chair. can someone tell me what will happen and will they put something over the tooth whilst the crown is been made?, will it feel strange etc?. I have having inhaled sedation but even so i am thing about it 24 hrs a day and can't cope with the anxiety of it. The tooth is an upper pre molar and has had a temory filling in since feb. I had some unwanted veneers placed 3 years ago and I hate them to this day as they feel like marbles. will a crown feel this way?

Thanks

It really is'nt that bad, no pain to speak of. What they will do is file down your tooth so a crown can fit over it. Since you've had a root canal you should'nt feel this. They need to make your tooth smaller. Most dentist will give you a tempory crown untill the new one is made. Ask your dentist what kind of crown ? Most feel like your natural teeth. I have a gold one in the back and hate it, because you can tell the difference ( hard to explain) Gold is the strongest material to use, but dos'nt look the best. Anyway hang in there I'm sure you will do fine

Kimmy

Thank you both for you replies, I really hope they put something over the tooth whilst I am waiting for the crown (if i turn up that is). My nerves are worse than ever at the moment and I am afraid I am not coping very well, I have got some diazapam from the doctor but I am only to take it when I really realy need it. I still can't get my head roundthe fact that having * treatment can make me feel so bad and unhappy. Ali I think you are just so very brave, you have managed to overcome you fear and get everything done and that is one Big achievement. I feel like come Tuesday my life will end, it is very hard to explain but I can't seem to picture life past the appointment, I certainly can't imagine walking out of there unaided. I have had many health issues including a cancer scare that required hospital treatment, an operation for varicose veins, plastic surgery on my ear (all in the last 2 yrs) plus more and not one of them affected me at all infact I would go through them all again if it meant I didn't have to go to the * LOL.

Anyway thankyou again and good luck with your next appointment Ali, I believe it is on Tues same as mine. I am having trouble posting on the other site but it should be sorted soon.

Maz,

As a "recovered" dental phobic, I feel your pain. I understand how you are feeling. Please do not let the fear "win" and keep you from taking your life back.

I have had a 2+ hour appointment for two crown preps & gum surgery with valium before the appointment & nitrous during. I found the combination to be VERY effective. I remember very little of that appointment, and what I do remember is very pleasant. Have you had nitrous before? Is there any way someone could bring you to the appointment and drive you home after so that you could take the valium before? Check with your dentist, mine is pretty fond of this combination and has no objection to me using valium alone, nitrous alone, or both during any appointment, but insists that if I have anything other than ntrous I don't drive. There is a very wide range of safe dosages for nitrous, so if you feel you need to be more sedated, then just tell your dentist to give you more. My dentist always says if I start t get anxious to concentrate on taking slower deeper breathes through my nose (where the mask is) so I get more nitrous, and if I feel like it is too much, to raise my hand and breathe through my mouth so I will get less. If you have never had nitrous before, you are going to be pleasantly surprised! It always makes me feel very floaty and calm.

The crown prep is painless, just a little tedious. They will put a temporary crown on while they make the permenant one to prevent the prep work from getting damaged. The temporary crowns are not very attractive and don't fit as well as the real one, so if it isn't perfect (the temp that is) don't get yourself all tied in knots! I wasn't all that thrilled with my temp crowns, but I really like the permenant porcelain ones I have. They are on two upper left molars, and I can honestly say I forget that I have them!

Please, please, please call your dentist and discuss your concerns. It is very important that you get that root canaled tooth crowned. I put off getting my crowns done after my root canals because of fear and almost lost one of the teeth because of it (cost me more than $1000 extra to save it). The crown will protect your tooth from damage. Root canaled teeth are very fragile.

I'd be happy to answer any other questions I can about nitrous or crowns, just let me know.

Maz, I know you can do this, don't give up on yourself.

Thankyou for your reply Shamen, you have cetainly answered alot of my questions. I am still so so nervous, it is now past midnight and I feel like my world is going to end and i am running around doing all the household chores so everything is neat and tidy for my family. I know it sounds mad and I wish I could understand it but I can't. Just one question does the crown feel bulky and heavy in your mouth?

Thanks again

Maz,

I used to drive myself crazy before every appointment too. It is so hard to fathom going to the denist being pleasant when you have had bad experiences in the past, but believe me, it is possible. I am a huge fan of nitrous. I am almost never nervous about the dentist anymore because I know my dentist will always let me have it if I want. I have managed to work my way up to having some treatment with nothing but local, but to be quite honest, I still prefer having the nitrous for any appointment that is going to be over about 10 minutes.

As to the crowns, I really don't notice them at all. They feel better than the broken down painful teeth I had there before, and I really like not having to worry about chewing on that side. It took a little tinkering by the dentist to get them perfect, which was really BORING. I never thought I would be comforatable enough at the dentist to get bored, but there you go.

It will take a few good visits to begin to erase the bad feelings you have from the past, but it will get easier. I'm sending yo positiv thoughts, I know you can do it. You are stronger than you think.

A crown prep is not all that bad really. Here's what happens. They will of course numb you up, and there are certain dimensions that are used in order to prep a tooth. When it's all said and done your tooth will have no enamel left and the dentin will be exposed. Now obviously there's no way you can just walk out of the dental office like that because dentin has nerves and once the numbness wears away you'll feel everything from breathing in cold air to eating or drinking anything. So what will happen next is the dentist will take a quick impression of your prepped tooth and send that to the lab to fabricate a crown. Then he/she will make a temporary acrylic crown to put over your tooth, you can't just walk out in public with half a tooth. You will wear that temporary until you come back to the dental office and at that time the final crown should be ready for placement. Now as for the type of crown, if it's an upper premolar than you are in the "esthestic zone", meaning you are in the zone where when you smile your teeth show. Now obviously can fabricate any type of crown you want and unless you want to look like a rapper with a gold crown you'll what's called a PFM (porcelain-fused-to-metal)crown. The dentist will pick a shade to match your other teeth so that it blends in. Oh by the way, I'm a dental student, any other questions just post it and I'll be more than happy to answer it.

A crown prep is not all that bad really. Here's what happens. They will of course numb you up, and there are certain dimensions that are used in order to prep a tooth. When it's all said and done your tooth will have no enamel left and the dentin will be exposed. Now obviously there's no way you can just walk out of the dental office like that because dentin has nerves and once the numbness wears away you'll feel everything from breathing in cold air to eating or drinking anything. So what will happen next is the dentist will take a quick impression of your prepped tooth and send that to the lab to fabricate a crown. Then he/she will make a temporary acrylic crown to put over your tooth, you can't just walk out in public with half a tooth. You will wear that temporary until you come back to the dental office and at that time the final crown should be ready for placement. Now as for the type of crown, if it's an upper premolar than you are in the "esthestic zone", meaning you are in the zone where when you smile your teeth show. Now obviously can fabricate any type of crown you want and unless you want to look like a rapper with a gold crown you'll what's called a PFM (porcelain-fused-to-metal)crown. The dentist will pick a shade to match your other teeth so that it blends in. Oh by the way, I'm a dental student, any other questions just post it and I'll be more than happy to answer it.



Hi

Thanks for that

I have just arrived home after the crown prep and it wasn't so bad, the only thing worrying me is that the dentist said the decay was very deep so the crown will be quite high, do you know what this means?, it is a root canaled tooth.

anyway I need to go and lie down for a bit.

thanks again

Marie