Huh.

[smarriveurr]

Many years ago, when I was still in single digits, I think, I chipped my right front tooth on the side of a pool. I never had anything done with it, it was just a bit of a chip, so I got used to it. A couple years back, while working at the Barracks, though, I had awesome dental coverage, and so the dentist convinced me to cap it, and I got used to

Comments

[lietya]

I hate to say it, but the likelihood is that you swallowed it once it came off (or so my dentist always informed me). As long as it's not bothering you now, hopefully you can wait for dental coverage to have it re-fixed?

My left front tooth is chipped pretty badly, and so I've had several conversations with dentists about how long the caps/fixes tend to last; somewhere around 10-15 years seems to be the estimate. It sounds as though yours didn't hold out nearly as long, though, which is a shame.

[smarriveurr]

Oh, I'm sure I swallowed it, and that bond is no big deal, thankfully. It's just... I dunno, I don't grind my teeth in my sleep, to the best of my knowledge, I hadn't eaten anything that would strain it particularly, so it came as a bit of a surprise to do my tongue-between-lips-bite "thinking scowl" this morning, and feel the old chippy bit.

"It sounds as though yours didn't hold out nearly as long, though, which is a shame."

Definitely not in the neighborhood. I'd say it's been, at most, five years since I had the work done. Which makes me worry about the other more-than-cosmetic bonding I had done at the same time, for some cavities that needed drilling. Hopefully they're not under the same strain.

[lietya]

Generally, they seem to use a more long-lasting set of materials/bonding/etc. for non-cosmetic work, but I don't blame you for being worried. The next time you have a dental checkup (whenever that may be) it couldn't hurt to ask the current dentist to take a good hard look at those.

I also have absolutely no scientific backing for this, but front-teeth work seems to be more prone to coming loose among my friends and family. Weird. (For what it's worth, I had cavities done earlier than my front cap which are still going strong even after it fell off and was replaced again.)

[smarriveurr]

I'm imagining that I use those front teeth for a lot more torque/right-angle tearing, while the molars are obviously doing more straightforward grinding. I had been working on a number of fresh apples, lately, so maybe that was just too much shear stress on the join, where the molar caps are just being compressed.

[troubleagain]

Oh, I wouldn't worry. It'll come out all right. :D

Seriously, though, ouch. That sucks.

[smarriveurr]

Oh, I wouldn't worry. It'll come out all right.

That's actually part of what concerned me in the morning, cuz, I mean, we're talking about a nice, fairly needle-like sliver of polymer bonding. Potential ouch.

[laurensa]

I chipped a front tooth on the playground at school when I was about, oh, ten or so. It became a problem when I was 15, and we got it capped. The dentist warned me it would have to replaced in 5-7 years.

It lasted until I got into my car accident when I was 31--it took getting smashed into a steering wheel to knock it loose!

[smarriveurr]

Lucky. Nobody warned me about the time limit, and it looks like I was on the lower end. I must be one of the couple dozen people balancing you out. :p

[laurensa]

Ohh, no, that used up ALL my dental luck.

Nobody warned ME that getting a partial (after the car accident) would turn a mouthful of healthy teeth into mush.

[smarriveurr]

Youch. Point taken.

[firynze]

Aooo, SUCK. :(

[smarriveurr]

It's not painful, or anything. Just... I'd gotten used to having relatively whole front teeth, after more than a decade of being used to having the one broken jagged one. The missing bit is like a millimeter off the tip, if that... but now I keep running my tongue over it with that weird frisson of "I'd forgotten it used to be like this." Well, that and wondering if it's more jagged now.

Thankfully, it was just cosmetic, really. The important caps are still holding strong.

[firynze]

I'd say the suck is more on the "crap, swallowing it" end - as long as it's not dangerously chipped, you can live with it. It's just a lousy thing to have happen.

[kraftigspeldam]

I chipped my front tooth when I was maybe 7 because I decided that I could ride my bicycle with no hands and thus found the front fender with my face. I've had it capped now about 5 times and have never had it last longer than 5 months....I guess I need to find a new dentist if everyone else's caps stay on for years....

[smarriveurr]

Perhaps chewing through the leather straps in the morning strains it more than usual? ;)