Dang, part of one of my back teeth broke off!

Message

#1 Post by **KUMonkeyMomma** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 7:16 pm

Oddly enough the filling is still intact, it was the inside front corner of one of my molars that came off. I had it filled as a teen and then a few months before I started treatment my dentist refilled it because there was a hairline crack in it and he hoped that by reinforcing it and refilling it, it would be fine/last. I guess not!

I'll call in the AM to get in and see what can be done but not sure what my options will be - don't know if they can rebuild it or if it'll need a crown (just what I need, to spend more money LOL), etc.

Either way I'm sure my trays won't fit right and I'll have to keep using this one (if it fits ok enough to do so) until impressions are done and new ones are made. I really hope I don't have to go weeks without any tray at all and lose any movement/progress I have made.

#2 Post by **drrick** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 7:33 am

most likelt the tooth willneed a crown (or onlay) and then a mid-course correction will be needed with your invisalign.

#3 Post by **Wireless** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 6:23 pm

Perhaps your dentist can do a partial tray by cutting off the part of the aligner over the damaged tooth while you get your tooth fixed? A mid course correction will probably take 4 weeks or more (mine took six weeks but there were signifcant changes to my treatment plan).

I would be interested in how things turn out for you. I have three lower front teeth where the tips broke off several years ago and my dentist fixed them with a similar material to what was used for my attachments. So far, I haven't had any problems with them during my Invisalign treatment, but would like to know how a broken tooth is handled in treatment.

Good luck!! I know this is discouraging!

#4 Post by **KUMonkeyMomma** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 6:38 pm

What he ended up doing was building it up with the same material they'd use for fillings (but white instead of silver - so likely the same thing they'd make the attachments from). Sounds like what yours did. He just kept working at it until he got it the same shape so that my tray fit. If it had been more of the tooth I don't think he'd have been able to do that.

Said we'll see how my next tray fits before doing more impressions and trying to do a correction. So crossing my fingers that it's close enough!

#5 Post by **Wireless** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 9:55 am

Three of my four front lowers are fixed in this fashion. Originally, the problem happened around 30 years ago and occasionally one of the fillings will come off (usually Friday PM after hours!!) and need to be redone. You may experience this problem depending on where filling is located.

As it turns out in my case, this type of tooth damage is a symptom of the deep bite condition I am being treated for now. I had braces about 20 years ago and stopped having the problem for a while. However, I relapsed and started losing one of the fillings every couple of years. While I've had Invisalign, I have had no problem with these fillings at all and hope this correction will keep further problems from happening.

You may need a more permanent fix later on, but hopefully this will get you through Invisalign. I hope this works out for you!!

#6 Post by **KUMonkeyMomma** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 12:07 pm

That is his hope - that it gets me through the invisalign without having to do a correction - eventually he said it will need a crown but hoping to do that after treatment is done (but before I get my final retainer). Might possibly be something to do if we need mid-course correction for other reasons and do the crown before new impressions for that too.

I had braces as a teen too and I think part of my issues with the few that have broken are bite related too - hoping that once I'm done with the invisalign my bite isn't going to have these issues!