Insight — The Real Evaluation of a Tooth Comes Only After Removing the Crown
Clinical Insight
When the crowns are splinted together, caution must be doubled.
In patients whose previous crown must be removed, until the crown is removed the true condition of the tooth — the volume of the crown structure, caries, cracks — is certainly not known. This is an ever-present rule.
But when several teeth are placed side by side as a splint, this uncertainty multiplies; because those who splint teeth without reason are very likely to also splint hopeless teeth to the healthy teeth in order to keep them, and the appearance of the work becomes deceptive.
Clinical summary
The patient presented to replace four connected crowns.
In such situations, I always tell the patient from the start:
- «I will remove the crown to see what is going on underneath it;»
- «a tooth may not be maintainable.»
Why? Because in splints, the probability of a hopeless (non-maintainable) tooth that has stayed up merely by being connected to the others is very high.
The key point
Evaluation of a tooth is always after removing the crown — but with splinted crowns, one must be more prepared for any scenario.
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