it all starts with a smile

Archive for the ‘Dentistry’ Category

Can you do Root Canal when I’ve got a crown on my tooth?

Friday, September 11th, 2009

“I’ve been told I need a root canal treatment, but I’ve got a crown on the tooth. Can it still be done?”

Root Canal Treatment needs access to the nerve inside the tooth. This means drilling into the tooth, if there is a crown on we can more often than not  just drill through it in the same way we would with a natural tooth.

There are times when a crown/bridge may need to be removed, this is usually if theyve been placed onto teeth were they mask the orientation of the tooth beneath and make accessing the nerve very difficult to find. Your dentist or endodontist would advise you before they removed anything.

What should I do if I lose an Invisalign aligner?

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

“I’m in the middle of my invisalign treamtment but cant find the aligner I should be wearing. I took it out to eat and think it may have ended up in the bin! What should I do?”

No worries! These things happen, its definately not the end of the world. There are a couple of options.

Firstly you should not go without wearing an aligner for too long, so the best thing to do is make sure you are wearing the previous alginer to the one you have lost. At least this will maintain the teeth where they are. A replacement aligner can then be ordered, although Invisalign do charge for these.

However! If youre lucky and were nearing the time to change into the next aligner it may be worth seeing if that fits. Although it will be a little tighter, if you can get the next aligner into place move straight into that one. It might hurt your teeth a little, but at least it wont hurt your pocket!!