Hi John, you might know this. In a discussion I had with a friend who lives
in the States about the temporary crown I had which fell out and I had a
toothache for a weekend. She said to me why didn't I get temporary crown
material you get in a package at my local drug store. She sent me pictures
of something you can use for temp crowns if your temp crown falls out and
its available in most drug stores in the US (temporary fillings too) and are
quite commonly sold. For use in case you can't get to your dentist right
away. I said to my friend that I've never seen anything like that in drug
stores in Toronto except for a  time, I did see a package of some material
that you put in your teeth if fillings fall out just till you get to a
dentist but I've never seen anything for temp crowns that fall off..

I was in Shoppers Drug market today and was curious about this, so I asked
the pharmacist if they ever sold temporary crowns or temp. fillings and she
said they used to sell them a few years ago but were told they couldn't sell
them any more.
She didn't know whose decision that was but said she didn't think it was the
drug stores decision and that maybe it had to do with Dental association or
the govt. She also said well they sell a lot of stuff in the states that we
don't have.
Do you know anything about this or why they stopped sellling temp crown
material or temp filling material in drug stores in Ontario or maybe in al
of Canada? Thanks.

Mary

John,

Thank you very much for giving me the URL of the Canadian Dental
Association.  The information was very helpful and is enabling me to proceed
in contacting my primary doctor and dentist to have them correspond about my
problem.

Nancy

And John wrote in his recent reply:

I raised this issue in smd when it "first" hit the "news" in March (?)
two years ago.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Newsgroups: sci.med.dentistry, alt.support.jaw-disorders
From: The Webby [address deleted]
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 00:00:07 GMT
Local: Tues, Mar 22 2005 5:00 pm
Subject: Avascular necrosis of TMJ

http://www.niams.nih.gov/hi/topics/avascular_necrosis/

In my case, it was (later) determined that I suffered bilateral
avascular necrosis of the temporomandibular joints as a result of
surgical complications from surgical error (orthognathic surgery).  The
joints were destroyed and thus began the saga of my chronic and
permanent TMJ disability and disease.

If you search Google Groups for "osteonecrosis jaw" you'll discover
posts that you may not have paid attention to in the past -- or maybe it
was even *you* who put the posts up!  Either way, it's an interesting
review.

The subjects of TMJ avascular necrosis and osteonecrosis of the
maxillofacial area (jaw/jawbone) are or should be matters of interest to
dental related newsgroups.

II'm just tossing these topics out to see if there's any interest in
getting a discussion going.  Turn on your television and count how many
times you see an advertisement for Fosamax (alendronate) in one evening.  
I watch relatively little television but I sure see a lot of Fosamax
pushing.

Webby
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I believe it is a very good topic for discussion!!!  

There is the old saying that if it happens 1% of the time and it happens
to you ... it happens 100% of the time.  Nancy not only needs to know
what the risks are *if* she has the tooth extracted ... she also needs
to know what sort of risks are associated with treatment options *if*
she ends up with the worst case scenario.

Unfortunately, the problem as I see it is more like this:

When doctors want their patients to be treated with these drugs, they
need to not only mention the dental risks ... they need to get the
information to their patients about how their Humpty Dumpties will be
put back together again if they fall off the wall... and what the risks
of *that* might be.

Webby