Tooth Pop Off Guidelines

[evanosu]

Hi Everyone,

I was curious to hear thoughts on what you do when a dentist tells you that a patient brought a denture back in which a tooth popped off.

Do you repair it for free within a certain timeframe? When would you charge the dentist?

I have a case that we made a full upper denture in December and the patient came back now with #10 out of the denture (of course the patient says he was just eating). We inject all our cases with Luctione 199/Success System and I can't see a tooth because of something we did just coming out 5 months later?

Appreciate any thoughts/opinions!

 

[JMN]

hadn't seen one that soon for "no reason" Have seen it when used as a dog/cat chew toy and as a beer bottle opener.

 

[evanosu]

hadn't seen one that soon for "no reason" Have seen it when used as a dog/cat chew toy and as a beer bottle opener.

Think it was something we may have done? I would think if it was, it would happen sooner than 5 months? Patient dropping it?

 

[nvarras]

do you have the denture and the tooth? looking at those will tell you a lot.

 

[evanosu]

do you have the denture and the tooth? looking at those will tell you a lot.

I don't, if they send it back, I'll take photos, thanks.

 

[Luke]

Ran into a rash of this before, cases werent being processed properly. Leaving wax on teeth, not creating proper bond between acrylic and plastic tooth. Give the other teeth a good hard push make sure they have proper bond..

But most likely patient dropped and it broke off, in my opinion. Its a small fee, id bill them.

 

[Luke]

And watch your fingers when pushing haha... If they do pop off the acrylic is nasty sharp...

 

[TheLabGuy]

Depends, do you put diatorics in all your teeth/Denture cases. If you say no, then you know what I'll say next. If yes, the patient needs to stop testing out gravel as a dietary supplement.

 

[evanosu]

Depends, do you put diatorics in all your teeth/Denture cases. If you say no, then you know what I'll say next. If yes, the patient needs to stop testing out gravel as a dietary supplement.

We only do diatorics on flexible partials...haven't seen many tooth pop offs.

 

[evanosu]

Ran into a rash of this before, cases werent being processed properly. Leaving wax on teeth, not creating proper bond between acrylic and plastic tooth. Give the other teeth a good hard push make sure they have proper bond..

But most likely patient dropped and it broke off, in my opinion. Its a small fee, id bill them.

Good to know, I'll have my lab manager double check.

 

[TheLabGuy]

We only do diatorics on flexible partials...haven't seen many tooth pop offs.

If you're not doing do it for your full dentures, then I'm not surprised at all. Start doing it on your full dentures and you won't ever have that problem again.

 

[Doris A]

There may have been separator on the tooth, they'll pop off if they're not clean. We clean the teeth with monomer, and before we pack or inject we paint them with palabond. We don't do diatorics and have never had a problem. Palabond is amazing stuff. We give a 1 year warranty on all of our work, so I would repair it for free.

 

[JKraver]

Look at tooth, if it came out clean put it back in 10 minutes of work tops. If it didn't come out clean and have to replace the tooth charge.

 

[rkm rdt]

Just fix the damn thing and hope it's the last one.

Let the pt feel he picked the right dentist.

 

[JKraver]

Just fix the damn thing and hope it's the last one.

Let the pt feel he picked the right dentist.

But if they picked the wrong dentist they are still getting charged, so why give the dr a free bill.

 

[rkm rdt]

But if they picked the wrong dentist they are still getting charged, so why give the dr a free bill.

...because black spaces matter!

 

[rkm rdt]

 

[JohnWilson]

Teeth "pop" out of dentures for tons of reasons. The #1 reason they do is based on poor processing protocols

The cost to do the repair regardless of fault is not the real thing to discuss here. I don't care if this is a one time only occurrence I can promise you if you look at the case the tooth is out and complete and the acrylic base has a beautiful socket they its a processing error

If its snapped in half or the basal surface of the tooth is still bonded its 100% a function issue. Like the function of the denture hitting the bathroom sink.

Even the latter circumstance on any appliance in my lab other than a repair on an appliance I did not fabricate will be warranted for 1 year. I will also say that I have repaired MANY at no charge regardless of fault as a good client discount that I of course write off.

Instead of getting pissed that your client asked for a free repair 5 months after the fact, use it as a way to strengthen your relationship with communication. I have personally observed much better ROI on this sort of marketing than on many others.

 

[XxJamesAxX]

I agree with John,

If the tooth came out clean then I'm 99.9 percent confident it's a processing error. I'd also wager that if it came out clean other teeth in that denture will pop out. I'd torque on the others while I had it in the lab if this is the case.

If processed correctly there should be a layer of tooth still in the denture.

As far as charge I'd fall back on what ever warranty you have in place or use it as a relationship builder if you see fit.


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[paul sarratt cdt]

I have not seen any responses questioning the opposing dentition. I have had pop offs where i used diatorics along with tooth bonding agent and because of the opposing natural dentition during mastication/occlusion and the patient biting with thier anterior teeth they would continually break off the same tooth I dont know if this is the case just sayin though