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The Dental Facebook Jury: The case of the stuck PFM

Feb. 13, 2017
Dr. Chris Salierno shares the comments from on DentistryIQ's Facebook page about the case of the stuck PFM. Here are what dental pros suggested the "stuck" dentist do.
Chris Salierno, DDS, Chief Editor, Dental Economics

Welcome to “The Dental Facebook Jury,” where we share lively debate and brutal honesty from our social media audience. To join the discussion, find us at facebook.com/DentistryIQ/.

Our Thursday Troubleshooter from February 2 shared the harrowing tale of a dentist who tried in a PFM crown and couldn’t remove it. So there’s a crown stuck on a tooth without cement. Hey, we’ve all been there. Let’s see what our dental audience had to say…

Well, it looks like our audience members are big fans of the crown and bridge remover system from Richwil. They’re basically like flavorless candy that use a patient’s own bite forces to remove a stuck crown. I like to use GC Pliers (GC America) in these situations. If none of these techniques work, what do you do?

First, we have a legal obligation to inform the patient. But we don’t have to make it sound like something really bad has happened. Like Robert from Facebook said, I would tell the patient we got a really good fit from the lab. I would then take a bitewing radiograph of the crown at each recall (at no charge) to continue to monitor the margins. If that sucker is still on there after a couple of years then I’d say we can treat it like a regularly cemented crown moving forward.

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About the Author

Chris Salierno, DDS | Chief Editor, Dental Economics

Chris Salierno, DDS, is the chief editor of Dental Economics and the editorial director of the Principles of Practice Management and Group Practice and DSO Digest e-newsletters. He is also a contributing author for DentistryIQ and Perio-Implant Advisory. He lectures and writes about practice management and clinical dentistry. He maintains a blog to answer patient questions at ToothQuest. Dr. Salierno maintains a private general practice in Melville, New York. You may contact him at [email protected].

Updated Dec. 4, 2020