So, here is a confusing story. Let me set up the timeline to help you keep track of the major events. Three weeks ago on a Monday, I place two premolar e.max crowns on a very nice, long-standing patient who is 82 years old. That same week on Thursday, I leave for a long weekend with the family. On Friday, the day after I leave, this same patient has a crown come out on the second molar in the same quadrant as his two new crowns. Those are the major events as they unfolded; now let me explain what happened in between.

After this very nice man's crown comes out, he calls my office only to learn that I am away. Being a nervous man, he decides to see a local dentist who places a sign on roadway outside his office advertising that he welcomes walk-in emergencies. He tells the dentist (mistakenly) that his brand new crown, placed on Monday that same week, has come out. The crown was obviously very old, showed signs of wear, and had a bad case of cement sepsis as evidenced by the smell. Nothing that would have happened in just four days. In addition, just a tooth mesially sit two nice pearly white e.max crowns.

After a series of X-rays and full exam, the patient is told that after he goes through the office's hygiene department, the remaining tooth will be extracted and an implant will be placed. At this point, no one has asked for a medical history or they would have found out that this patient is a diabetic who takes an aspirin a day, is on Plavix as well as a plethora of other medications. In a moment of lucidity, the patient says that he really just wants the crown re-cemented, and gets up and leaves.

I return on Monday and guess who is on the phone at 9:00 a.m.? I am shocked and surprised to hear that my new crown came out just four days after it was placed. To make things worse, the patient was not available to come in for two weeks. So, I spend the next two weeks concerned and in disbelief. I eagerly await the appointment to see what has happened.

Today, the patient arrives friendly and jovial as usual. I look in his mouth and am thrilled to see that it is not, in fact, one of my crowns. I tell the patient, show him the mirror, and he keeps saying, "The other dentist said that a new crown should last longer than four days." Seeing that I will never win this fight and not wanting to alienate this nice old man and his extended family who are all patients of mine, I tell him that I fully agree and will make him a new crown and cement it with the really good cement this time.

Soon his shiny new e.max is in place and he is happily on his way. No big deal. CEREC is great for crazy situations like this. My sadness lies with my colleague down the block who could have saved me the problem and re-cemented the still functional crown. Instead he charged this man for a full series of X-rays and an exam. He also kept the crown, insisting that he could not return it. It's a sad state of affairs out there sometimes. I hope I run into him around town soon. It's time we had a talk...