How much dental work in one sitting?

I haven’t been to the dentist in ages. I finally went in last week and found out that I needed quite a bit of work done. That is not a huge surprise, but it is disappointing. I don’t want to live at the dentist’s office. I wondered how much dental work can be done in one sitting?

Brian L.

Brian,

You haven’t mentioned what type of procedures you need. Is it just fillings? Or maybe you need some crowns and root canals?

How much can be done in one sitting depends on two things: 1. What type of procedures you need, and 2. Your tolerance in the chair.

Some people can handle a few hours, but it gets hard holding your mouth open.  I will tell you, that you could handle a lot more time in the chair if you used sedation dentistry. My suggestion would be either oral sedation dentistry or IV sedation. That will enable you  to get the most work done, with the least amount of discomfort to you.

If you go with sedation, you will need someone to drive you to and from your appointment.

This blog is brought to you by Gilbert Dentist Dr. Matt Roper.

Crown fell off

My temporary crown fell out.  Can I get it to stay back in using denture paste?

Luke H. – Georgia

Luke,

It is your dentist who should assume responsibility for the crown to be re-cemented. However, if for some reason  you can’t reach him or he does not take responsibility, you have two options:

First, you could go to a pharmacy and get some temporary dental cement.  Tell them what happened to your crown and they should be able to supply you with some.

Second, if the first option isn’t possible you can use super glue.  Don’t use too much because it can be hard to get off.

What I don’t want you to do is leave the crown off. Even if it is only off for a few days it will throw off your bite and then your permanent crwon will not fit.

This blog is brought to you by Gilbert Dentist Dr. Matt Roper.