I had a root canal on Fri and went back to the dentist on Mon for a temp crown and fitting for a permanent crown. The dentist took out the temp crown that the endodontist had used and grinded away most of my tooth. After that, she drew me a diagram, told me that I needed a crown lengthening and referred me to a periodontist, and informed me that she would not put on a crown if I didn't have a crown lengthening ($750 procedure which my insurance does not cover). The billing person in the dental office referred me to another dentist (in the same office) who also said I needed crown lengthening, but he said he would do the procedure free of charge.

My questions are:
1. Is a crown lengthening really necessary? My gum line is fairly high on this tooth and I think having it higher wil look odd. Also, $750 is a really high cost to a grad student. It was NEVER mentioned by my dentist or anyone else when the cost of a root canal and crown were discussed.

2. Is it possible that I need a crown lengthening because the dentist grinded away too much of my tooth structure? She left very little tooth. She never discussed how much she would be removing or anything related to size prior to grinding my tooth.

3. Is a dentist qualified to do a crown lengthening? Or is it better to go to a periodontist?

4. Where can I find more information regarding crown lengthening pros and cons, both critiques and recommendations?

Thank you for your time and help.

fredg

Hi,
I am not a Dentist, nor a Professional in this area. I am a 64 yrs old man, who has had just about every known dental problem, and gum problem.....now have some Great dentures!
I would personally go to another Dentist!!!....one that is recommended by friends, or others in your local area. Any Dentist who starts doing work on you, not explaining beforehand what they will do and why, should be avoided. It's like going to a surgeon, who operates on you, without telling you anything about what he will do beforehand.....avoid it.
All this sounds just a little bit "too convenient" to me, with all the referrals.
Check with another Dentist before you go spending all this money.
I do wish you the best of luck.

curious23

WOW! Your situation sounds so much like mine. I seem to only find shady dental offices b/c the people seem to be trying to suck every penny out of me. The idea of crown lengthening was NEVER EVER mentioned to me until I got to my appointment to get the crown. They told me that it would be $750 on top of the cost of the crown if they decided to do the crown lengthening procedure. They told me they wouldn't know if they had to do it until they started drilling away at my tooth. How convenient for them- destroy my tooth and THEN tell me they I need to do the procedure...I'd have no choice. Of course my insurance does not cover this either.
I left the office at that point and am trying to seek some more advice on the matter.
If you've discovered anything about this procedure, I'd love to know!
Good luck to you!

debdrunner

I had the same exact thing happen! I was told I needed root canal.had that done, then told i need a crown.It took him 3 hours for the first visit he drilled on forever and when I went back he said there was a problem. I might LOOSE the tooth completley!!!! He needs to consult with another staff member to see if they can preform crown legthening!!!!! I believe he screwed up!

gumchewer

:rallyes: I know this question was posed a very long time ago, but, perhaps, someone will be helped now or in the future by my answer. As I write this, I am 4 days post surgery with the 3rd crown lengthening I have had. Not fun, annoying pain for days afterwards and the surgery required way too many big shots....but, having said all that, i do not think anyone is being ripped off. This procedure has allowed me to save teeth, which should always be the ultimate goal. After a root canal, a tooth HAS to be ground down in a crown is to be used, as is often necessary because root can teeth become very brittle and break. If there is not enough tooth above the gum line to crown the tooth properly and keep it protected from breakage and further decay (yes that can happen even after a root canal) then the proper technique IS to do a crown lengthening. I just had to pay nearly $1000 for mine, and I, too, have no dental insurance, but in the long run it will be worth it. If you think your dentist is ripping you off, you should not be utilizing that dentist. I trust mine and know he has my best interests in mind when he has designed the treatment plan.
I think, despite the pain i am suffering, that this treatment is worth it in the end.

santolla

I think these dentists are scam artists! I just had crown lengthening and don't really believe I needed it since there was plenty of my broken tooth available and it wasn't mentioned till after I paid for everything. Did they want more money from me. And damn.... this proceedure F**Cking hurts now!

Everything that has ever gone wrong in my mouth was a denists error. I paid a fortune to have 5 bloody fillings replaced last year and the one they claim to have replaced was never and it broke, then 2 days later my tooth broke as well. I've had dentist chip my teeth, i've had dentist fill cavities leaving decay under it. That was a very expensive dental mistake!!

And since I move around the globe, i'm never at the same dentist so i can't go back and sue the F**Ckers for ruining my mouth and costing me heaps of money.

And... I just found that the bloody dentist who has recently been working on my broken tooth has taken it upon herself to file down the tooth next to it. WHY??? Did she bump her arm or do it on purpose. Why file a perfectly good tooth.

I say F**CK the dentists. Lets all get our dental degrees and do our own mouths. Their robbing bastards they are and I hate them all!!!

Whos' with me?

dentalphobic70

I just came from my dentist yesterday morning and she did the same thing as you guys described. stated I only needed root canal and then drilled away my tooth and ooppsss surprise surprise! suddenly I needed all these $859 worth of dental procedure. Where the heck did that came from? like I have a choice now???? they drilled it all away what choice do I have. I called my insurance and now a grievance have been filed coz according to my insurance it was supposed to be a surgical procedure and the only thing the dentist used was the drill....

flossie

Here's a website that may be of interest to all of you. It's a shame that none of your dentists thoroughly explained to you what MAY need to be done BEFORE they started treatment. "Informed consent" is VERY important before starting any kind of treatment whether it be by dentist, doctor, chiropractor, your pets veternarian, etc.

Clinical Crown-lengthening

If you don't have a dental professional that gets informed consent I'd say find one who does!

sweetlove76ers3

well, if it makes anyone feel better, I just recently switched dentists because of the poor work that was being done to my mouth (i.e. horrible looking root canals). It had been 18 months since i had gone and in the last 4 months, 5 teeth had partially broken, all of which had work done to them before...and i needed 4 root canals and crowns, crown lengthening AND repairs (more crown lengthening) done to most of my other teeth. Apparently, that "free" dentist via insurance had F*ed up my teeth and now i was going to pay---BIG TIME. It was $20 k worth of work. My insurance covered a whopping $846 and the place gave me a discount for 10%....so it is only going to be $16 k in loans!!!! That is as much money as my student loans. I am beside myself at the thought, but i realize that in order to save my teeth now, I really have no choice. My ENTIRE mouth gets done this thursday in an 8 hour appointment. I might be a little more scared now that i read this page since everyone seems to think it is a wast and a painful procedure

nramhd

Hello, I had exact same situation. After taking like 10 xrays from the tooth that
dentist had worked on root canal, dentist gave me a xray and address of the doctor
I should go for Crown Lenghening.

I did instead ask my friends for a good dentist and went to that dentist . I did not
mention that I had been asked to do CL. New doctor said everything looks good
and that he imprinted me for the crown.

Please please eveytime you are asked to do surgery (and CL is a surgery which
I heard sometime its even hard to stop bleeding from it) get a second opinion
and even thrid. Its your health , use your wisdom. This is not the first time I
asked to go to same periodo.. by this office. First time was about gum surgery which
instead I bought a good quality waterpik and used it daily and my gums improved.

Best of luck