Some discomfort is normal following crowns and bridges. Dental work on a tooth is traumatic to the surrounding area and requires time to heal and settle. So whether you have permanent or temporary crowns or bridges, you must do the following until the anesthetic wears off:
Anesthetic
Eat nothing until the anesthetic has gone off to protect your lips, cheeks, and tongue from any damage.
Sensitivity
Following therapy, sensitivity—especially to cold—is frequent. Avoid particularly hot or cold foods and beverages during the first several days. Following the treatment, it’s typical to experience some discomfort in the gums surrounding the tooth as the anesthetic wears off.
If the gums are tender, rinse with warm salt water, dissolving (1/2 teaspoon of salt in an 8oz glass of warm water). An analgesic such as Tylenol or Ibuprofen (Motrin or Advil) will help to increase your comfort.
Temporary
Obtaining a crowns and bridges will require numerous appointments. Temporary crowns are plastic crowns or bridges that are fabricated on the day of crown preparation and placed on the teeth while the permanent restoration is fabricated. The temporary fulfills a crucial function. It shields the exposed tooth, making it less sensitive, inhibits food and bacteria from adhering to the prepared teeth, and keeps the tooth from shifting or migrating, which can make final restoration placement more challenging. After the anesthetic wears off, if your bite feels unbalanced or your temporary crown feels too high, please contact our office to schedule a simple correction.
Avoid chewing sticky or hard items that could dislodge or damage the temporary crown, since they may be cemented in place with a cement that is designed to be readily removed.
Use your toothbrush as you normally would to clean the temporary tooth. To avoid accidently loosening the temporary, it is advisable to pull the floss through the contact rather than lifting up on it when flossing. If your temporary falls off between appointments, reapply it and contact our office so that we can replace it. A small amount of Vaseline, denture adhesive, or a crown repair kit material (Dentemp) from the pharmacy can be used to temporarily hold the crown in place.
