Question:
I had a new crown fitted to one of my teeth two days ago (the crown
was fitted to a tooth that had a root canal filling about 6 weeks
ago).
The tooth that had the crown fitted (lower left rear) feels okay, but
the one immediately above it gives a small amount of pain when biting
down onto the newly crowned tooth below it.
I'm wondering if the crown is slightly too high and incorrectly making
contact with the tooth above it on biting. Can I test for this
somehow?
Alternatively, is this likely to be still in the 'settling down'
phase, ie the tooth above it isn't yet 'used to' the newly crowned
tooth below it and so the upper tooth is slightly bruised? If so,
perhaps that should wear off in a few days?
Answer:
This is tough to answer specifically, and unfortunately this isn't a
do-it-yourself situation.
The bite may in fact be slightly high. Sometimes this happens because
the temporary crown that had been on wears, and the final crown feels a
bit high by comparison. However, if this is the case, the bite usually
feels normal within a few hours or at most a day or two.
Pain is never a good sign. I'll take you at your word that it's the
upper tooth, but pain is frequently referred up-down, so I wouldn't take
it too much for granted. It may be that a slight adjustment is all you
need. I wouldn't wait too long to check--patients with even small high
spots instinctively alter their bites to avoid the pain, and this can
set up muscle spasm and make any small high spots more difficult to find
down the road.
Check with your dentist.
While yesterday and the previous day the pain (relatively slight (but
noticeable) that it is) was consistent whenever I chewed, especially
when I chewed on the right side (the crown is at the rear left side)
yet I've found that today the pain has been far more intermittent and
not as noticeable. It also used to be the case that when I clamped my
teeth together when NOT eating I noticed pain, yet now that rarely
happens.
I'm sure I'm not subconciously altering my bite.
I've also checked that my other teeth are meeting together/engaging
properly and they're fine, so if it's a high bite issue then would it
be the case that some teeth wouldn't engage correctly with their
lower/upper counterparts?
Perhaps it's just a slight misalignment where the upper tooth bites
down on the lower, crowned tooth and the upper tooth is kind of
settling into a slightly new position? I mention this as I know that
teeth can adjust their position and are temporarily painful while
doing so (when having braces fitted for example).
If it's improving and you have no other symptoms, I'd give it a few days.
I actually had my first crown ever placed this past winter (at age 53)
and while the opposite tooth didn't hurt, it took quite a while for the
crowned tooth to calm down.
But if you find the symptoms returning or worsening, don't wait for
them to get excruciating--get it checked.
