What happens if your bridge falls out

As worst-case scenarios, one of your teeth might fracture, or have its nerve traumatized to the point where root canal treatment is required.

You should try to wear your restoration that has come off as much as is reasonably possible. If a significant amount of tooth shifting takes place, your dentist may not be able to recement your restoration and instead will have to make you a new one.

With just denture adhesive used as cement, your temporarily recemented dental work should be taken out during activities where its dislodgment is a possibility.

Two examples are:. Any time your crown is taken out, you should clean the adhesive off of it. A potential problem is the case where residual adhesive remaining inside your restoration dries out and hardens. If it does, you may not be able to seat your crown back on your tooth properly.

Keeping your crown or bridge wet at all times can help to avoid this complication. Any tooth surface is always at risk for decay if debris is allowed to accumulate on it.

Also, be sure to floss it and the sides of its neighboring teeth too, just like you routinely should with your other teeth. Dental bridges involve multiple teeth and therefore, as compared to crowns, usually weigh more. This additional weight factor can make them more difficult to keep in place. The same issue can apply to very large metal crowns. The last point in our list above is probably the most important one.

If so, what would have been a relatively minor expense to you will now involve crown or bridge replacement costs. If only the tiniest amount of tooth shifting has occurred, wearing your restoration may be able to guide them back into place just like orthodontic treatment moves teeth. And take the hint that you need to be wearing your crown or bridge more often than before. Our instructions on this page outline the use of denture adhesive like that that comes in a tube to recement lost dental work.

Overall, this makes a convenient product to use, typically has quite a bit of tackiness to it and generally tends to work well. We like the idea of using denture adhesive as glue for lost crowns and bridges. Yet weak enough that using it is always easily reversible. There are however, other, usually stronger, types of OTC cement available.

The presence of these globs will inhibit thorough plaque removal from around the tooth. Along these same lines, your crown is worth many many hundreds of dollars. This would be more of a problem with some types of all-ceramic crowns. Choosing a non-eugenol product probably makes the best choice. Due to extenuating circumstances, like the Coronavirus pandemic, some people may find their ability to appoint with a dentist severely limited or even non-existent over the near-term. Adequate oral home care must be diligently maintained.

When a longer-term scenario is considered anything more than just a few days , we wondered if the use of an organic compound, like denture adhesive, might support bacterial growth and therefore place the patient at greater risk for complications.

In comparison to an organic compound, petroleum jelly discussed above would seem to have less potential to promote bacterial growth, and therefore using it or nothing at all if possible might make the safer choice for long-term cases. A loose bridge creates an empty space into which bacteria can enter and create problems from cavities to periodontitis. But the worst possible consequences could result from attempting to recement the bridge with a household or other non-dental glue, which could severely damage the underlying teeth.

However, if the cement does not break easily, the tooth structure of the abutment teeth could break inside the crown, requiring at least a new bridge and possibly even implants to replace the abutment teeth.

To avoid this problem, the bridge can be cut off, but of course that necessitates replacing it with a new one. If the loose bridge has been caused by abutment tooth decay, the abutment tooth will need to be treated, if possible, by cleaning or root canal. But if it has decayed too far, it will have to be replaced by an implant placed surgically in the jawbone that can support the new bridge. Le and his wife and office manager Ann Le. Serene setting — Our office is designed to provide a calm, relaxing environment to help put your mind at ease during treatment.

Take a tour. Reception room at Bunker Hill Dentistry. The reasons these supports may fall out are usually due to new decay under or around the crown or bridge. Even though crowns cover a majority of the tooth above the gum lines, there is still an exposed surface area along the margin of the crown. This means food, bacteria, acids, and decay-causing microorganisms can cling to the tooth; if the tooth is not properly cleaned every day, new cavities are sure to develop.

These small cavities expand deeper into the tooth, causing it to decay to the point where there is nothing left for the crown to adhere to. Keeping it in a zip bag is adequate and can keep you from losing it before you can get to your dentist.