So, we're almost ready for our Tuscany trip in two weeks,looking forward to seeing our daughter in Siena, doing the CT with her, etc.
And now I find myself in need of a root canal. That's not the real problem, the root canal will fix the problem, but with two weeks to go, it looks like I'll be traveling to Italy with a temporary crown. My concern is what happens if it falls off.
Any advice out there? I'll take a few sympathy pats, too.
Thanks,
Marcia

hello marcia,
ouch.
i would take along some of that dental "glue" or whatever its called. ask your dentist.

of course there are dentists in italy if you need one - does your daughter live in siena? doesn't she have a dentist there? certainly her italian friends would.

regardless, if it were me, i'd ask my hotel manager for help finding a dentist.

PS: chew on the other side.

Hi Marcia,

If there's anyone who knows about root canals - it's me! I've had two done on my front teeth.

Talk to your dentist about it, but my dentist has never been terribly worried when my temporary filling has fallen out (usually during the bleaching process, when pressure can build up behind the filling and push it out.) The main problem is that food gets into the cavity and rots away. It's not a problem if it's only for a few days, but if you're looking at a week or more then I would try to get to a dentist so he/she could clean out the hole and put some Cavit (a light, porous cement) or similar in it to stop more stuff getting in there.

Make sure you're travel insurance covers emergency dental treatment, since before leaving my dentist warned me about the huge cost of dental care here in Italy. My dentist also told me to make sure they only replace the crown that has fallen off with a temporary crown or filling, as if they replace it with something permanent then it can be a pain to get it off again if they do a bad job.

They're about two hours north of there, but my good friends Paolo Guerra and Antonella Carignani are absolutely superb dentists; they're in Pietrasanta. My wife and I have had them do all our dental work for years, including her six implants along with repair of damage done to her teeth and jaw by bad U.S. dentists. Their site is Tuscany Dentist.com. Paolo is also an MD, and they both are involved with teaching and research at the universities in Pisa and Novarra.

Marcia, send me an email and I will give you my phone number so if you need a dentist or whatever I can give you assistance. My dentist is WONDERFUL. First time in my life I have not hated going to a dentist.

One of my husband's crowns fell out in Rome, had it reglued in Florence. Total cost was 50 Euro. Best advice is to hold on to that crown, or to anything that falls out!

I have a very very good dentist in Florence. I have been to alot of them. He is expensive but everything he has is state of the art and hygene is super. He is a dental surgeon. If you need him let me know. I hope that you don't.

Thank you all for your advice and concern. My dentist feels confident that the temporary filling that he has "super-glued" in will last and if not, I have the name/number of a dentist in Siena. I have decided that that phone number will be my lucky charm and I will not need to use it. Anway, copious amounts of red wine and pasta, + chewing on the other side, will be my culinary mantra for this trip.

Marcia

My sister just had her two front teeth get knocked out, and she said when she returned back to work many of her coworkers had stories like hers. One coworker had temp crowns put on his two front teeth after an accident. One day at work, he bites into a piece of pizza, and pop, out come the crowns. He had to work the rest of the day with his broken off chompers for all to see. Punchline of the story, her workplace is one of the top hair salons in Beverly Hills and the guy is a top stylist. Ouch.

So, um, anyway... hope you have better luck than that guy

This is supposed to make me feel better?