Crowns Really Needed for Tiny Cracks?

[Tgff]

I never had professional dental care as a child or young adult, and, likely as a result of that, have a fear of the dentist (deep feelings of shame and fear of dentist damaging my teeth). During my first round of dental treatment, I just needed fillings (maybe 5, some relatively large), and I had a couple more from a physically rough and insensitive dentist about a year later. After that, I avoided going again for a few years.

I just went back, and my gums are the healthiest they’ve ever been, and I needed a couple small fillings, which I survived. But, I’m having a hard time with another part.

The dentist showed me blown up images of tiny cracks across the middle of my first premolars (which have no fillings). He told me that he shined a light on the side of them, and it did not pass through the cracks, meaning that they are not just surface cracks. He said I should get crowns to extend the life of the teeth. He said that, without crowns, the teeth could split, and I would need extraction and implants. He says this may be a result of the shape of my premolars (tall points on both sides) causing too much pressure on the teeth.

I am having a hard time with this. It seems so invasive for two tiny-looking cracks that I didn’t even know were there. Could this really be necessary? How much risk is there really of the teeth splitting and needing to come out?

 

[Tgff]

(Having a trust issue. Don’t want to grind down two pretty visible teeth unless there’s a really good reason.)

 

[MountainMama]

Can you get a second opinion? I am not a dentist so can’t advise on the cracks, but I have teeth with visible small cracks and the dentists have not been worried about them. The teeth that they wanted to crown were ones with fillings that were actually causing me pain. I think I would want a second opinion if a dentist wanted me to crown teeth that had never had a filling.

 

[Gordon]

Sounds a bit odd to me. Craze lines and stuff on teeth is normal.