If your dentist has recently covered a few of your teeth with permanent dental crowns to help protect the teeth, you may be worried that you may do something to damage them, especially during the time it takes for the adhesive to fully set up. If so, use the following tips to help prevent damage to your new permanent crowns.
1. Eat Hard or Chewy Foods Sparingly
One preventative measure you can take to help keep from cracking or chipping your new crowns is to avoid hard or chewy foods during the first week or so after you get them. Doing so will help the adhesive material harden completely, which will also keep them from popping off if you were to bite down on a hard carrot or chew on a piece of taffy.
However, even after the crowns' adhesive sets up, you should still be careful with what you eat. While you do not have to give them up completely, you still want to eat hard and chewy foods sparingly. And, when you do eat food that could crack or pull on your crowns, try to direct the food to the opposite side of your mouth while chewing to keep it away from the crowns.
2. Avoid Using a Toothpick to Clean Between Your Teeth
Before you received your crowns, you may have been in a habit of using a toothpick to get any stuck pieces of meat or other foods out from between your teeth. While using a toothpick can be convenient, you should avoid doing so when you have dental crowns.
Although the majority of your tooth is covered by the crown, the bottom of your tooth near the gumline is still exposed. If you use a toothpick to try to dislodge food that has become trapped, you may accidentally poke underneath the edge of the crown. If this happens, you may crack the bottoms or even dislodge a crown.
Instead of using toothpicks, carry dental floss with you so that you can clean your teeth on the go. However, even when using dental floss, you should be careful. Instead of pulling up the floss, push it down, wiggle it around, and then slide it straight out to keep it from getting caught on the bottom edges of your crowns.
Especially when you first have your crowns placed, you need to be careful when eating or cleaning around them so that you can keep them from becoming damaged. For more information about taking care of your new permanent dental crowns, speak with your dentist.
