The Problems That Can Happen If Your Dental Crown Falls Out

One of the benefits of having a crown placed on a tooth is that it is bonded directly to the tooth. It is not supposed to come or be removable like dentures, which give it more strength and stability in comparison. However, it is possible that a dental crown will fall out. Here are a few problems that can happen by not having the crown fixed as quickly as possible.

You'll Damage Your Crown's Anchor Tooth

The tooth used to hold the crown in place is not going to be strong like your other teeth. A significant portion of the tooth needed to be shaved down in order to fit the crown on top of it, and leaving the tooth exposed can cause the tooth to decay. It will be a big problem if you want to fix the crown later and discover that the tooth can no longer support it. You'll need to get an implant instead, or pull the tooth and replace it with a dental bridge.

Your Teeth Will Shift

WIthout the crown, you'll now have some additional spacing around the tooth that was not there before. It may be small, but it can cause your surrounding teeth to shift over time. While it won't be as extreme as if you were missing the tooth entirely, it can make it difficult to place a new crown in its place if the teeth have shifted enough.

You'll Change Your Chewing Behavior

The reason you got a dental crown in the first place was to preserve the tooth and get back to eating the foods that you love. Unfortunately, a missing crown is going to alter your chewing behavior in a way that is not good. You may find yourself eating on a specific side of the mouth, which puts more wear on the healthy teeth. You may even experience jaw pain due to both sides of the jaw not being used equally.

Thankfully, losing a dental crown is not the worse thing that can happen to your teeth. A dentist is actually able to place the crown back onto the tooth if caught early enough, since it typically needs to be secured in place with bonding material. If you lost the crown completely, you'll need to have a dentist make a new one that can replace it. Waiting too long can also result in having enough damage caused to your teeth that you need a new mold to make a new crown.