bbqfish

1# meowmeowmeow

old filling fell out, may mean there's recurrent caries. if that's the case, after you remove the caries, there will be less tooth structure left than before, thus more difficult to incorporate retention to the new filling. so even though it's the same tooth, the situation may have changed. you can't just compare 10 yr vs. 1 yr. but yes, normally, a well done restoration should not break in 1 yr.

bbqfish

9# meowmeowmeow

well, at least i can tell u the filling is safe to eat. so if u accidentally eat it, don't worry.

bbqfish

yes, crowns cost a lot. coz it's custom made for you. and a lot of the money goes to the lab fee. and the materials used to make the crown is expensive. (don't know what kinda crown you have, but the metal ones are made of precious metals like platinum, gold...etc) and anything custom made costs a lot more than pre-fabricated stuff, just like custom made clothes will cost more than regular clothes.

if need root canal and crown, sounds to me that there's not enough tooth structure left to hold the filling. but by all means, get a second option if u need to. u can ask the dentist to duplicate x-rays images for u, so u don't have to retake radiographs in the 2nd dentist's office. but the original dentist may charge u duplication fee. (or u take the originals to the 2nd dentist, ask the 2nd dentist to return them back to original dentist after use)

bbqfish

16# celeron_266

well, depends on how good the originals are. if the originals weren't v. good to begin with, then the duplicates will only be worse.  depending on individual cases, the dentist can make the call whether those images are good enough or not.

bbqfish

lab fee.. roughly 30-50% depends on what u do.
then the dentist has to pay the rent, and staff...
so about 30% goes into dentist's pocket.

bbqfish

ya. lab gets about 30-50%... but the material is expensive like i said. it's precious metal after all. so lab tech earns the 30% minus the cost of the metal. and it takes time to make a good one. esp when u r a newbie. more experienced lab tech can do things much faster. how to be a lab tech? i think VCC has a program...
and yes, dentist should earn more money than lab ppl. spend so many yrs in school and so much $ for tuition.