My dentist put a couple of dental crowns on my front teeth. Almost immediately my gums were swollen and tender, and nothing he has tried has made them better. It has been months!
I finally got fed up and saw a couple of specialists and another dentist. I saw a periodontist who tried to fix it by treating the gumline. When that didn’t work I switched to a new dentist, who said there was no good way to resolve this issue without causing cosmetic damage to my gums. Today I saw a prosthodontist who essentially said the same thing: that surgery on my gums may or may not fix the problem and that the procedure would probably cause cosmetic damage to the gum area between my two front teeth. He also kept stressing that I HAD to get this treated, and that inflammation of my gums can lead to much bigger problems, and it kind of freaked me out.
I just spent a lot of money to have a nicer looking smile, and now these doctors are all telling me that there is no way out that won’t cause scarring. Can this be right? I am so frustrated!
Amelia in New Bedford
Dear Amelia,
The dental crowns are too deep under your gums. This will not go away, or get better with time. This phenomenon has not been widely publicized in the professional literature, but it is quite disappointing that all of the doctors you have seen have been so timid about recommending treatment.
If at least two professionals are saying there will be scarring, you should resolve yourself that this will likely be the case. That being said, you should get the surgery. This will not improve without treatment, and the prosthodontist was right to issue dire warnings about the consequences of untreated gum disease.
While you are deciding on a course of action, rinsing with an antibacterial rinse like the product Peridex would probably help bring down the swelling, but if you do use Peridex, you should also use Supersmile toothpaste. Peridex causes stains on your teeth, and Supersmile is the only toothpaste we are aware of that is effective in keeping stains from forming.
This blog is maintained courtesy of the office of Dr. Hadgis, Grosse Pointe Woods cosmetic dentist.