Unhappy with gold crown on bottom pre molar

[Katster]

I have just come home form the dentist after having a gold crown fitted, my dentist assured me that this tooth was not in my smile so he'd prefer to use gold. i had a look at the tooth in the car on the way home and I think its very obvious, its visible not only when i smile but also when i talk, the reflections on the high polish also make the tooth look dark and dirty.

My question is how complicated or is it even possible to have this crown removed and replaced with a porcelin crown? apparently one of the edges of the tooth is very thin and the current crown feels like its bulging out from the inside because of this.

Some advice on this would be a great help as im feeling a bit down in the dumps at the moment

thanks!

[Jerome Tsang, DDS]

The dentist will numb you up, probably either try to pop the crown off with a "crown tapper" which hooks in right at the gumline and pop its out, or he'll cut it in half part way and then try to split it to break the cement.  Once the cement is broken, the crown comes out quite easily.  Then the process is done over again where they take the impression, place a temp, put in the crown after the lab makes it.  

[Katster]

Hey Susan, thanks for the reply, how do they get the crown off? ive tried picking at it because the bulge on the side is driving me insane and it seems pretty stuck on there!

Funny enough i'm a jeweller so i think its only a couple of grams, so probably 80AUD or so but you loose a lot when people buy gold from the consumer, sort of depreciates like a second hand car.

I started an apprentiship as a dental tech this week and i asked my boss about it and he was appauled apparently the crown itself isnt even stable because the dentist didnt put a post in!, his refered me to a friend of his and is willing to do me a good deal and make the crown for me himself in porcelin, just annoyign that the origional dentist has already claimed $800 from my private health care which was my eitnre years dental allowance. OUCH!

[Susan1944]

Of COURSE he will replace the crown for you! It is NOT complicated in the least. What I want to tell you is a Deep Dark Secret you'll never hear from any dentist:  GET THAT GOLD CROWN AND HAVE HIM PUT IT IN A PRESCRIPTION CONTAINER FOR YOU TO TAKE HOME. Do you know what scrap gold is worth now??? DO NOT LET HIM KEEP IT. It is a private joke among dentists. Years ago, I had one removed, asked for it back and know what he said? "Sorry; it fell behind my filing cabinet."
My husband had a mouthful of gold crowns removed, took them to a pawn shop and walked out with hundreds of dollars!