I have a six year-old porcelain crown with a cavity underneath. What would cause this to happen?
– Jennifer from Oklahoma

Jennifer,
A crown should last longer than six years. When the dentist prepares the tooth for the crown, they must be sure that the margin, the area where the crown meets the tooth, has no gaps in it and it must be smooth. If there’s a gap or roughness at the margin, the area will attract plaque and be vulnerable to recurrent decay. It sounds like the dentist that created your crown didn’t prepare the margin area properly so your tooth was prone to decay.

With regards to insurance companies, they generally expect a dental crown to last at least five years and they won’t pay for a replacement crown any time before this date. However, many dentists believe the crown should last much longer than five years and would be embarrassed if they did a crown and it didn’t last for years and years unless the patient had a tendency to get cavities.

When you decide to replace your crown, make sure you do thorough research to locate a cosmetic dentist with a proven track record for creating crowns.

For more information about Dr. Ryan P. Perry, visit his Baton Rouge Family Dentist website.