No way to answer that question without seeing the tooth.  Often
when a defective crown is removed the dentist finds that the
shape of the prepared tooth may have contributed to the failure
of the previous crown.

Sometimes the tooth has been 'under prepared' and there is not
adequate space available for a properly made crown.  Sometimes
the tooth needs to be built up to provide a better foundation
for the crown.  Sometimes the line angles of the preparation are
sharp.  Sometimes the margins are not clear or not placed below
existing fillings.

Once in a while, I will cut off an old crown and think to myself,
"That's a nice looking prep.  I don't think it needs any work."
Most of the time, I need to do at least minor reshaping, and it
isn't uncommon to need quite a lot of work.

OTOH, the actual number of old crowns that I replace in a years time
is not very large.  I'm sure that I check thousands of crowns each
year on my patients and only replace 20-30.  I probably see another
50 that have deteriorated to the point that I have to extract the
tooth, but these are usually older patients who have had these crowns
for many years (dental health often fails rapidly as overall health
fails, and patients end up in nursing homes).

JME,
Steve

JME,
Steve

On Feb 22, 2:09 pm, Steven Bornfeld <dentaltwinm...@earthlink.net>
wrote:

if the crown was placed just for a short time and there is nothing
wrong on the tooth, I mean  the crown itself has some problem, how
much more tooth will lose for the replacement? Does the tooth need to
be reshaped?

Thanks

   

Sometimes the old crown can be popped off, but usually it's cut off esp.
if attempting to pop it off could be expected to put unsafe force on the
tooth.  This is a clinical judgement, and ordinarily there shouldn't be
any significant risk to crown removal.
The decay at the gumline will of course have to be removed, and the
tooth will almost certainly need to be reshaped somewhat in order to
extend past the area the decay was, as the crown will have to cover this
area.  However, the total amount of additional tooth cutting should be
much less than when the crown was done the first time.  Other than that,
the procedure should be pretty much the same.

Steve

On Feb 21, 9:20 am, Mark & Steven Bornfeld
<bornfeldm...@dentaltwins.com> wrote:

Actually this was not about lack of trust, as I have already scheduled
the appointment.  This was about the procedure, what to expect and if
there could be any damage to the underlying tooth by removing the
crown.  Does the tooth have to be re-shaped?  Just want to know what
I'm getting into.  Thanks!

    If you have doubts about your new dentist I would always suggest a
second opinion.

Steve

I had my normal 6 month appointment last week where I found out that
my previous dentist (the past 5 years) had sold the practice to a new
dentist.  He has installed all the new diagnostic tools that the
previous dentist did not have.

I had gone for 3 years with no work needed and now the new dentist
says I need to have my 2 crowns on rear molars replaced due to decay
at the gum line.  He showed me all kinds of stuff with his new x-ray
machine and oral cameral (seemed very excited about his toys).  I'm
concerned about the procedure and wanted to know what to expect.  I
guess the good news is he didn't find anything on other teeth but this
procedure scares me.

I appreciate any feedback.