Bad odour from crown

[Eslapper]

Can anyone please help me with a problem with an odour coming from a crown area (upper left –one in from the back)? After x-rays my dentist could see no problems with the crown and there is no gum infection. I was referred to my local dental hospital to see their consultant. He said there wasn’t a problem that was obvious, but recommended my usual dentist ensure the margins were good enough to prevent food entrapment. My dentist replaced the crown with a new one and also rebuilt the tooth next to it i.e. the back molar, to ensure a straight gap between the two teeth. The odour still persists however. During the month or so when I had a temporary filling in the back tooth and a stump at the crown tooth the odour disappeared.
Initially the odour originated from the gap between the crown and the back molar. However, just recently since the new crown fit, a somewhat stronger odour also comes from between the crown and the tooth forward of it (albeit from below the gum line).

I’ve had a second opinion, with no problems found. I cannot overemphasize just how awful the odour is. Trapped food I can tolerate-just a quick floss and the smells gone, but this bad odour just cannot be removed. It’s knocking my confidence, and is ruining my life. The odour smells, at best, like cheesy vomit and at worst like faeces; not really like rotting food at all. I rarely eat meat, always floss after food and several times between meals (floss, on average 10 times a day).I use inter-dental brushes soaked in mouth wash and I spend a fortune on all sorts of tooth and gum washes. I have to suck mints continuously. If I chew gum this makes the smell worse, as it seems to “leech” out the smell from the gum. The same thing happens eg when I eat an apple or a slice of toast; I can detect the bad taste through the food taste if I chew on that side.

When I first floss the smell can be quite bad, but the more I floss or use brushes, the worse the smell gets and it never diminishes. Particularly if I firmly run the floss down the crown into and underneath the gum line the odour gets bad. I can guarantee that food can never be trapped for more than 10 minutes, before I floss. So in my humble opinion this has nothing to do with the trapping of fresh food. I requested that the dentist remove both back teeth and be done with it, but he refuses, saying it’s too drastic.

I have only ever had 2 crowns fitted. Is it possible to be allergic to the crown cement, as I've had a similar but much, much less unpleasant smell from my other 10-year old crown

Can anyone tell me if clinics exist that deal with this sort of thing. I’m sure I once saw a TV documentary about a London Harley Street clinic where the dentist was assessing a patient’s oral odour by smelling the floss as well as using some sort of “halitosis breath monitor” to analyze the chemical composition. I’m desperate, so cost is not an issue for me. What is the protocol for going to such a clinic; is it done through my GP or dentist, or just phone them direct?

Please can somebody advise me because this problem has ruined my life for the last 3 years, and nobody seems bothered enough to help. Now where are my pliers!

[lynn117]

does your dentist notice the odor? i had a friend that insisted she had a horrible smelly mouth but no one else could smell it. she ended up having a serious unsystematic sinus infection.

[scottma]

If there is no decay within crowned tooth, seeing a periodontist is advised.