Expert: Rafael Mosery,D.D.S. - 10/26/2007

Question
Hi, I'm very happy to find you on the Internet. I'm very worried about my bad tooth. Can you help me?
My dentist (in Holland) put on a temporary crown on my molar tooth 3 days ago and asked me to visit him after 2 weeks for a permanent crown. Now the gum of this bad tooth is a little bit inflamed. The temporary crown is a bit loose. The more irritating problem is that the tooth generates bad breath. I hate it! I called the dentist today. He said the problem would disappear after he put on the permanent crown for me. Is that so??? Is the problem really common and temporary? I had experience of crown placement from a different dentist half a year ago. I did not have such problems then.


Athena

Answer
With the temp loosened on the tooth it would be common to have the gum irritated and the foul odor since the tooth isn't sealed. It's far from an ideal scenario but a final restoration should seal the tooth fully and the contours should be flat whereby the gum will not be impinged upon and be able to stay healthy.Ideally the temp should have these same qualities,can't really evaluate the temp without a clinical exam.