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Save a tooth using micro sandblasting and new filling material

G

George Birds

Junior member
Joined
Apr 10, 2021
Messages
2
Location
Tucson, Pima, Arizona, USA
I am now 82 years old and have now 5 upper jaw teeth that have broken off just at the gum line. The remaining broken off teeth are not sensitive when I push on them. Why not use the composite material to build up the broken section of the teeth above the gum line with a sandblasting to remove soft material and then cover the stub of the tooth on the first treatment? A second treatment would be to shape the composite material sticking above the gum line to take a permanent composite tooth? I had one of my upper molars starting to crack into small pieces. The molar was sharp to my tongue so a dentist years ago covered the molar with some composite to prevent it from braking up any further and not to cut my tongue. This repair seems to be very successful for years now. Can this same repair be done to a broken off tooth that has a good root? Why pull a perfectly good tooth with a broken off top section and install an implant? Micro-sandblasting is not a new procedure which is used to prepare a tooth with a cavity to accept the composite filling which has proven to be much better than undercutting the tooth to accept the old silver amalgam fillings which do not stick to the tooth material. With the proper modern dental equipment, a dentist may be able to restore a broken off tooth to be maybe even better than the original. Let me be a test of this procedure so I can live my life out with good chewing. Tucson AZ
 
It's been done lots of times and fails every time very quickly. There isn't enough retention to support the composite even with modern materials. Sorry.

Much more successful procedure would be to make a simple overdenture, smooth the teeth down to near gum level, seal them if necessary and make a denture to fit over them. The roots preserve bone nicely and they give some support for the denture unlike having it bear down on the soft tissues.
 
Thank you for your input about saving a broken off tooth in an older person. I think your advice is well taken as to the poor retention of a built up of resin to support a crown on the remaining tooth. This problem is a good reason not to rely on the composite only to support a crown; but to protect the gum around that tooth. The composite coating would be a good option just to cover the remaining tooth broken off at the gum line. Could the composite covering be built up enough to be above the gum line but not stick up to be a chewing surface like the remaining teeth? Making the composite mainly on the broken off tooth to protect the gum would be good enough. If the composite did not try to hold a crown on the broken off tooth, maybe the buildup would have less problem of braking off. At the age of 82, I do not need the repaired tooth to be more than a round stub of composite sticking up even half way the length of the original tooth. Even for the upper front teeth, the repaired stub would look better than the gap in my smile. This is not a cosmetic fix; but rather a logical fix for an older person who may not want a beautiful smile. I do not need an implant which has a failure rate higher than the original tooth in the jaw bone. I want to dentist to "KISS" my dental repair. In my case the only other option I have is to live with the broken off teeth for the rest of my life. Possibly a dental technician could be schooled enough to perform the "micro sandblasting" and "resin coating" without taking the time from a doctor of dentistry who only oversees the work. This procedure is nothing more than a serious teeth cleaning that the dental technician already performs.
 
Composite build up like that is actually more harmful to the gum tissues than leaving it uncovered. There will be micro spaces in the composite which act as bacterial refuges which will be likely to lead to more gum issues.
A dental technician would lose his license very swiftly if they tried such a thing in this country. I suspect the same in the US.
 
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