“My Crown Popped Off! What do I do?”
A crown can fall out. This can happen from eating something very sticky like taffy or caramel, or the cement seal can just loosen and not very sticky food can help pull the crown out.
So how much time do you have to get the crown recemented? The sooner the better. Within a matter of a few days the teeth can start to drift and the crown will not fit back in. Sometimes adjustments can be made to the crown that will get that to fit, but not always. The end result is that the tooth has to be reprepared for a new crown, a new impression taken, a new crown made and cemented.
If you can’t get to a dentist right away, I have found that chapstick works very well to hold a crown on a posterior (back) tooth for a week or so which hopefully gives you enough time to have it professionally cemented. On front teeth it may not work quite as well. The biggest problem is when the tooth structure breaks off inside the crown… then there is nothing to hold the crown in place. The solution is to have the tooth extracted and a dental implant placed. Let’s hope this situation doesn’t happen to you!