How long should a temporary cap be left on before deciding wether a permanent cap is O.K. or a root canal must be done? It has been three months, and the temp keeps coming out, should they have put the permanent cap on as soon as the temp came off the first time? Now it keeps getting infected and the dentist is going to charge me an arm and a leg for a root canal instead of just an arm for the cap!

I had a problem with two teeth being capped that were questionably in need of a root canal. The endodontist said the teeth looked great but I was having a lot of discomfort from the temporaries and they kept falling off. He recommended getting the permanents made and attaching them with temporary cement. That way if I needed root canals they could just remove them and not have to drill through the crowns. The fit was much better and after about three months with the permanent crowns/temporary cement the teeth settled down enough to reattach the crowns with permanent cement. Of course, there's no guarantee they won't have problems in the future but they've been good for a couple years now. I know this doesn't help with your current problem, but for the future this might be an option. I never knew attaching permanent crowns with temporary cement for a period of months was an option before.

Your doctor should be able to cement the permanent crn right away. It usually only takes a month to get the crowns back from the lab where they were made. If you are experiencing sensitivity, it could because when a dentist prepares a tooth for a crown, he reshapes the tooth, removing the enamel. When the underlying dentin of the tooth is exposed, you will definitly experience sensitivity to temperature. It can also take several months for a tooth to "calm down" after being prepared. If I were you, I would have the permanent crown cemented and if RCT is indicated, it can be done through the crown.

For myself, I would never again have a permanent crown permanently cemented until the tooth settles down. However, having it placed with the temp cement makes sense to me. I dont know why my dentist did not DO that. Glad to know it. As it was, I had a temp on for a year, waiting.