Replacing Failed or Ageing Dental Work
Dental work has a lifespan. Crowns loosen, fillings leak at the edges, implants can develop problems in the gum and bone around them, and teeth drift in the years after braces. Almost always this is age, biology and the materials available at the time rather than anything done wrong. We work out why this one failed before rebuilding it, because replacing it without answering that question tends to buy only a few years.
- Assessment
- Examination, radiographs, 3D scan
- Fee
- That of the treatment replacing it
- Removal
- Quoted after assessment
- Records
- Kept so the next one can be compared
Why dental work fails
It is worth saying plainly, because people often arrive braced for bad news about who is to blame: the usual reasons have nothing to do with blame at all.
Age. A filling or crown placed twenty years ago has been chewed on several million times. Materials fatigue, cements wash out at the margin, and nothing bonded to a tooth lasts indefinitely.
The materials of the time. What was placed was often the best available then. Adhesive dentistry and milled ceramics have changed what is possible, so a tooth that once needed cutting down for a crown might today be rebuilt far more conservatively.
Decay starting again underneath. A margin that opens by a fraction lets bacteria in where a brush cannot reach, and the tooth quietly decays beneath work that still looks sound from outside.
Cracks. Heavily filled teeth flex under load. Years of grinding or a single hard bite can start a crack that only shows up later.
Gums receding past a margin. The crown is unchanged; the gum has moved, exposing root surface and the join.
Occasionally something was genuinely not right from the start. More often what we find is a restoration that did its job for years and has reached the end of it.
Finding out why, first
The assessment is the part that matters, and it is the part most easily skipped. We examine the tooth and the ones it bites against, take radiographs and a 3D scan where it helps, check the bite for the loading that may have broken the last one, and look at whether decay risk or grinding is driving a pattern rather than a one-off.
That tells us whether this is a tooth to rebuild, a tooth to restore differently, or occasionally a tooth that is better replaced. It also tells us what to change so the next restoration is not on the same path.
Restorations: crowns, onlays and fillings
A failed crown or a leaking filling is the commonest reason people come. Where enough sound tooth remains, we usually rebuild adhesively rather than cutting the tooth down further — a ceramic onlay bonded onto what is left keeps more of the tooth than a replacement crown does, and the tooth has already given up enough.
Implants
Problems around an implant are usually in the gum and bone rather than in the implant itself: inflammation, bleeding, and bone loss around the fixture. Caught early this is often manageable. Where an implant has lost too much support, it can be removed and the site allowed to heal, and we will talk through whether replacing it is sensible and when.
Teeth that have moved after braces
Teeth drift after orthodontics; it is the rule rather than the exception, and it is why retainers exist. Where the movement is mild, a new retainer may be all that is needed. Where teeth have moved a long way back, a short course of aligners followed by proper retention usually sorts it.
What it costs
Replacing failed work is charged at the fee for the treatment that replaces it: a crown at the crown fee, an onlay at the onlay fee, an implant at the implant fee. They are all on our published fees page.
Removing what is already there can add to that, and how much depends entirely on what is being removed and how well it is attached — so that part is quoted after the assessment, in writing, rather than guessed at here.
Who does this at Calm Dental
Fees for this treatment are on our fees page, including GST. A written quotation follows examination.
Questions
My crown keeps coming off. Does it need replacing?
Not always, but it does need looking at rather than recementing again. A crown that comes off repeatedly is telling you something — decay under the margin, not enough tooth left to grip, or a bite loading it in a direction it cannot take. Recementing without finding out which simply restarts the clock.
Will you tell me my previous dentist did something wrong?
Almost certainly not, because that is almost never the story. Dental work wears out. What we will tell you is what we can see now, why we think it has failed, and what the options are. If something genuinely was not right we will say so plainly, but it is far rarer than people expect.
Can a root canal that still hurts be redone?
Often, yes. A root canal can be re-treated — the old filling material removed, the canals cleaned again and resealed. Whether that is the right move depends on how much tooth is left and what the radiograph shows, and sometimes referral to a specialist endodontist is the better route. Our root canal page goes into it.
What happens if an implant is failing?
It depends what is failing. Inflammation and early bone loss around an implant can often be treated and stabilised. An implant that has lost most of its support is usually removed, the site left to heal, and the question of replacing it taken separately once it has.
My teeth moved after braces years ago. Is it too late?
No. Teeth can be moved again at any age as long as the gums and bone are healthy. Mild drifting may just need a new retainer; more than that usually means a short course of aligners and then retention that actually gets worn.
How much will it cost?
The fee is that of the treatment replacing it, which is published on our fees page including GST. Removing the old work can add to it depending on what is there, and that is quoted in writing after the assessment rather than estimated in advance.
Who does this at Calm Dental?
The dentists listed on this page, depending on what is being replaced.