got dental crown to close a gap, but I want braces

I lost my Upper left 15 tooth in 2002 after a failed root canal treatment. It was extracted.
Over the years Tooth 16 was over-errupting into the gap left by Tooth 15.

I recently had a dental crown fitted. The dentist has made a long dental crown, over Tooth 16, extending to Tooth 14 so that the gap left by Tooth 15 is covered by the crown. It is a procelain on metal crown.

I am not comfortable with the crown, there is a very tiny gap, near the gum on the inside/back part of the crown, where food gets stuck and I have to use my tongue to remove it or use a tooth pick.

I am thinking of having this crown removed and getting individual crowns fitted on Tooth 16 and Tooth 14 and getting braces fixed to close the gap left by Tooth 15. Would this be okay to do?

Will this work? I was told to get braces to close the gap, but this dentist who fitted the crown said he can cover the gap with an extended dental crown. I am now regretting my decision.

I am attaching my x-ray, taken before had the dental crown fitted.

I also had cervico facial actinomycosis from a failed root canal treatment. I have been treated for it and am currently on oral antibiotics following a month of penicillin I.V.
I got this crown fitted after my I.V was complete.
I am now worried that getting the crown could cause a relapse as the disease had spread to my gums.

Please advice.

[luuluu]

hi. the kind of gap that youre describing could be an open margin. in which case you would need to get the dentist to look at it and re do it for free. open margins at the gumline allow bacteria to re cavitate the tooth. if he says no everything looks fine you may wanna get a second opinion and take that drs findings back to the original dentist and get your money back. because the dr should have checked the margins before he cemented the crown. now if you have a "temporary crown" on right now and the lab is making yours then the gap is fine.  as far as closing the space in between the teeth it costs less money to do 2 crowns than braces. and its never a good idea to cut down virgin tooth structure for a crown. so braces are better as long as you dont mind the money and the way they look. good luck

[tessa79]

Thanks alot for the reply. The crown is permanently fixed. Does this mean I have to have it removed & get a new one made to close the 'open margin'? I was thinking of having the 2 teeth (16 & 14) fitted with individual crowns & removing the long double crown I have now - which is covering the gap. Does it make dental sense to have individual crowns done & then getting braces fixed to close the gap? Also, I can't get the open margin fixed until february as I had this crown fitted in India & I'll be going back in february. I am worried that my tooth may decay by then due to the open margin. I do clean properly, thrice a day.