Expert: Rafael Mosery,D.D.S. - 12/22/2007

Question
Hello,

I had a root canal done several years ago.  The dentist at the time decided at the last moment not to do a cap on my tooth, but to do a filling instead.  Well, the filling has fallen out now.  I have since moved to "Bush" Alaska.  No dentist is available here in my community at this time.  I have no pain or any major discomfort (Except the fact that I know that the filling is gone, and I have this big hole where my filling was).  Is this a major concern?  Am I going to end up having severe pain in a few days?  I am planning a trip to Anchorage the first of the year.  Should I try and find a dentist that can see me while I am there to get what remains of my tooth pulled or capped?  Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance,



Chuck

Answer
Hi Chuck,
Your best bet would be to have the tooth restored as soon as possible the first should be ok.The issue is recontaminating the tooth from the oral environs.Ideally, a crown would be great if you could have it placed in a timely manner.It would take atleast two visits to complete and the 2 visits would usually be about 10 days apart since there's a lab step involved in fabricating the crown.Get it closed up one way or another or you could run into difficulty especially with the limited access to care.Keep away from chewing hard things on that side so you don't break or crack the remaining tooth structure.