# 5 tooth broke in half--oral surgeon may not be able to do extraction/implant until July?

[Soul1977]

# 5 tooth broke in half--oral surgeon may not be able to do extraction/implant until July?

Hi all,

First off, so glad you all are here!

To say that I have had an ordeal with my teeth lately would be an understatement. The background: I cracked my # 2 tooth about a month ago, went to the dentist and went through the crowning process on that tooth. While I had the temp crown in I noticed that my # 5 tooth was quite sore, but chalked it up to the crown prep healing, and the temp crown running "high" and hitting my other teeth (I have a small mouth and pretty much any size of temp would feel "big"). Also, I had a bad habit of checking all my teeth on that right side of my mouth with my tongue after the crown prep, so I figured I was irritating the gums. Being extremely dental phobic as I am, and afraid of the temp falling out, I kept to a liquid/very soft food diet the entire time.

Nope. Went back to the dentist to get the perm crown put on, and after it was the dentist went ahead and did a check of the other teeth on that side. He hit the metal pointed thing they use (I think it's called an explorer?) on # 5 and I almost levitated out of the chair in pain!! A closer look & some more x-rays later, and it turns out that the tooth had split straight down the middle! I don't remember this tooth breaking at all--I instantly knew when #2 did!-- but one theory is that it may have cracked this tooth when the other tooth broke and it was somehow overlooked. Or, I may have grinded my teeth and cracked it in my sleep, since there were a couple nights with the temp crown that I woke up with seriously sore teeth.Anyway, the dentist stressed that it was unrecoverable and would need to be extracted ASAP by an oral surgeon

Yesterday, I had my consult appt. with the oral surgeon, who I really liked and felt comfortable with. We set up a treatment plan, and all agreed that the tooth definitely needed to be extracted and we agreed that the best option would be to have the extraction & the implant put in on the same day, because of where # 5 is in my smile line and for the surgeon's concern about bone loss/shrinkage in my top jaw if I went too long with nothing in the extraction hole.

So, the office is now trying to hash things out with my insurance (they don't cover implants, but might cover the sedation cost, consult, etc.) They are going to call me to schedule the surgery once said hashing out is done. However, they took a look at the schedule just to see and said that, as of yesterday, the soonest appt. avail for this would be July 10!

However, everyone I've told about my experience is shocked that I probably won't be getting the tooth out until July, and has me scared that I'm going to get some horrible infection or the tooth will fall out of my mouth by then And of course, by the time I started to feel really, really anxious, the oral surgeon's office was closed for the holiday weekend--will probably call him on Tuesday since he said that I was welcome to do so.

I'm still sticking to the soft food diet, chewing on the other side, to be safe...but is there anything else I need to do in the meantime? I'm freakin' out here!!

 

[Davee]

Re: # 5 tooth broke in half--oral surgeon may not be able to do extraction/implant until July?

July seems like a long way off. I think it may be inevitable that you need to wait that long, but at present, I would see if you can be seen and treated by another reputable oral surgeon. I do not think there is too much risk for infection as my daughter is dealing with a cracked tooth that her dentist is trying to save from a root canal. She went 2 months with her original dentist telling her nothing was wrong (and she had so much pain) and it did not get infected. I think it is a good idea to chew on the opposite side, and it may be a good idea to take ibruprofen which may help with the inflammation of the pulp.

 

[Soul1977]

Re: # 5 tooth broke in half--oral surgeon may not be able to do extraction/implant until July?

July seems like a long way off. I think it may be inevitable that you need to wait that long, but at present, I would see if you can be seen and treated by another reputable oral surgeon. I do not think there is too much risk for infection as my daughter is dealing with a cracked tooth that her dentist is trying to save from a root canal. She went 2 months with her original dentist telling her nothing was wrong (and she had so much pain) and it did not get infected. I think it is a good idea to chew on the opposite side, and it may be a good idea to take ibruprofen which may help with the inflammation of the pulp.

Thanks, Davee. I will probably call and talk to the surgeon in the morning--I would like to stay with the one I presently have if at all possible since he was very understanding of my fears and is regarded as the best of the best in my area (which is probably why there's such a wait!). It just kind of surprised me, and I wondered if that was pretty common...although I keep trying to tell myself that if it were super urgent and the surgeon thought there was real danger, or if I called later and told him that the tooth was going south fast, he would probably schedule an emergency appt. to extract the tooth. Since I posted, a friend also pointed out to me that the date is NOT set in stone yet, so by the time I do schedule the surgery there could be some earlier dates open from cancellations, etc.

Thanks for the ibruprofen suggestion too..Motrin has been working very well!

 

[Snowberry]

Re: # 5 tooth broke in half--oral surgeon may not be able to do extraction/implant until July?

I was referred in December and have an appointment at the hospital in August to have 5 teeth out!

Love the NHS!

 

[comfortdentist]

Re: # 5 tooth broke in half--oral surgeon may not be able to do extraction/implant until July?

Note:
Best long term aesthetics are associated with delayed placement of implant if it is critical issue.