Newly placed dental crown damaging adjacent teeth? Very worried!

[lunarlo]

Hi! I finally received the crown for my implant on Friday after getting my right upper 2nd molar extracted over a year and a half ago. This was an appointment I was actually excited (and still nervous, always nervous) for after having so many procedures done on that spot and being toothless for so long, but now it's 5:00 am, and I can't sleep because I'm so worried that the crown is too tight and damaging my adjacent teeth!

I went in on Friday morning to scan the tooth area and then they actually made the crown at my dentist office because they have a machine there. So, I went back around two hours later after the crown was made to have it placed. This went generally fine. I was feeling pressure as she was tightening, but it wasn't so bad. I would raise my left hand, and she'd give me a break before going on to tighten it. After I left, about an hour later, I realized the crown had a little bit of a wiggle to it, so I went back to the dentist, and she said that she under torqued the crowned originally to spare me some discomfort, but that she would need to tighten it. This time as she was tightening it, I felt a lot more pressure. We took a few breaks and eventually got through it, but it felt like it was pushing on all the teeth on the right side of my mouth. She said that it should go away after a little bit and that the teeth needed to adjust to the new crown. She did not attempt to floss check it the second time, but she did the first. She did take xrays and said the xrays looked good.

But it's been two days now (well almost, it's been like 40 hours), and I still feel a lot of pressure on the teeth on that side of the mouth all the way to my front teeth. I'm worried that there's too much contact between the new crown and the tooth in front of it, and it's pushing against that tooth which is pushing all my other teeth. The teeth feel sensitive and achy kind of like when you got your braces tightened, and I'm having trouble getting floss through the area. The first night I could barely get floss through on not only the crown area, but also with the teeth further in front of the 2nd molar, and it was shredding the floss. Saturday, it was a little better meaning I can get floss through the nearby teeth although there is still some light floss shredding (I use cocofloss so it's a bit thicker than other types, but I had no issues with it before the crown), but I still couldn't get the floss in between the crown and the tooth in front of it. I haven't tried with a thinner floss, but I feel like I should be able to get all floss through!

Is it too tight against my other tooth? How long do I have before it starts damaging the teeth in front of it?? Another wrench in this story is that this dentist is in New York, while I just moved back to Boston. I traveled back for the day to get the crown placed because I wanted to finish the journey where I started it, but I obviously can't just stop by to get the crown adjusted that easily, so I'd have to go to another dentist here who will charge me. Should I try to give it more time to adjust? I don't want my other teeth to be affected!!

I'd appreciate any thoughts or advice!!! Maybe then I'll be able to sleep!!

 

[NervousUSA]

@lunarlo I am not a dentist but this happened to me with my dental implant crown too. It ended up shifting my teeth around it out of its way, exactly like braces do. It took me a few days to be able to floss, too. I don't remember how long, maybe as long as 3 or 4. I also had blanching (white gums) around the crown for those days. I think they can't judge the size of crowns for implants too well and sometimes they make them too big. My crown couldn't be fully tightened down and permanently closed up until it finished shifting my teeth. At that point it was fitting between them quite loosely. This was a week after it was first installed.

 

[Gordon]

It can take a few days for things to settle down with a new crown of any sort, so give it a little bit longer. I had a couple of crowns done myself earlier this year and it took around 2 weeks for things to sort themselves out.

 

[lunarlo]

Thank you both of you!! I was able to floss more normally yesterday and this morning, although it does hurt to floss still. Unfortunately, when I flossed in between my new crown and the tooth in front of it there was a little bit of bleeding. I am trying not to let it take over my thoughts because my teeth are feeling a little bit better, but I hope it's not a sign that my implant is failing with the new crown. Or that my gums are receding. I have some gum recession already and all this extra pressure on my gums I'm sure isn't good...

 

[Gordon]

I wouldn't worry about it, the chances are the gums are a bit fragile after the crown fitting.
It's not a sign of a failing implant.

 

[NervousUSA]

I had some bleeding too from the part of my gums that had blanched and some skin even peeled from those areas during the first couple weeks after the crown but they seem to be fine now.