Temporary Bridge/Crown.... not happy so far :-((

[ScaredyChick]

Well, I had the first step in this procedure done yesterday and am sad to say that I'm not too happy with the result The work is to extract my front upper tooth that was overlapping its neighbor and then create a bridge with crowns to improve the appearance of my smile. The good news is that although I had worked myself up into a bundle of nerves before I even sat in the dentist chair the dentist took his time, was very gentle and explained everything he was doing so in the end the front tooth extraction and grinding of 4 adjacent teeth to prep for crowns was pain free, completely, I didnt even feel the injections (I had 4) but then my face was numb for a long time afterwards.

Its the temporary bridge and crown that I am unhappy with for the following reasons:

1. It is one peice temporary to cover the span of 5 teeth so there are no natural gaps between the teeth which is making my top lip stick to the bridge as it gets so dry.
2. This temporary was fitted to give my gum chance to heal properly around the extraction site and is supposed to last me until January 9th when I go back for impressions for the crowns etc to be made and they will not be ready for final fitting until January 28th, trouble is the very top of 4 of the 'teeth' are chipped and show my own ground down teeth underneath so my smile is still not something I want to show.
3. The grooves the dentist put in to give the appearance of teeth are not straight.
4. The colour is different to my regular teeth, I had hoped that this work would give me a whiter, nicer smile and so far that is not what I've got, the temporary bridge/crown is a couple of shades darker than my natural teeth.

Not sure if I should just 'LIVE WITH THE TEMPORARY' or go back and ask my dentist to make a better one? I know I am probably expecting a lot from a temporary unit but with Christmas around the corner I had hoped that I would be smiling more not less. Anyone else had similar issues or got any advice?

 

[Dr. Daniel]

Hi,
It is wonderful the procedure went so well.

A temporary bridge/crown is very easy to change: add more, grind off, change the shape, even change the color (to some degree), so if you are not happy with its appearance you should go to your dentist for a bit of touch up.
It is important to do it not only because you need to ware it for some time, but more important it is a mean of communication between you and your dentist about the final result.
The final bridge is difficult to change, so it is important to strive for a good esthetic result with the temp and later replicate the result on the final. Technically speaking: the dentist takes an impression of the temp bridge in the your mouth so that the lab could know how to design the final.
Another advise: it is better to change the front bridge in small steps because you need to get used to the changes. Every change in the front teeth is evident and usually it takes a few days to get used to it.

 

[comfortdentist]

well said Dr Daniel