This is a guide on how to use the “Lost filling and loose cap repair” kit that is commonly sold at most pharmacies. This over the counter product is a temporary solution for missing fillings or crowns that have fallen off. It’ll work for temporary crowns and permanent crowns.
The way you use this temporary kit will differ for fillings vs crowns but we’ll teach you how to use it for both. We’ll be giving you written, photos, and video instructions on how to use this if you’re having a dental emergency.
Lost Filling Instructions
Here are the written instructions on how to use the lost filling and loose cap repair kit for a missing dental filling.
Conditions which are eligible:
- The filling completely dislodged or fell out of the tooth.
- Parts of the restoration chipped off or cracked.
How to use as temporary filling:
- Clean. Before you start, you need to establish a clean working environment. This includes brushing, flossing, and washing your hands with soap.
- Scoop. Approximate the size of your lost filling and scoop out a little bit more of the temporary material than you think you’d need.
- Roll. Roll the temporary material into a small ball.
- Place. Put the material directly into the area of the tooth that lost the restoration.
- Adapt. Wet a cotton tip (q-tip) and push the temp material into the cavity. Adapt it into the hole and also up along the sides of the tooth.
- Bite. Close your teeth together and bite up and down a few times. Then grind your teeth side to side from left to right a couple of times.
- Wait. Wait 2-3 hours before you eat anything to allow the material to harden.
Last but not least, don’t forget to schedule an appointment with your dentist because this is only a temporary solution. The material is not permanent so it will slowly dissolve over time. The only permanent fix is to get a new tooth filling with your dentist.
Photos instructions
Here are photos of each step of how to temporarily fix your lost filling.
Video instructions
This is a video showing all of the steps of how to use the lost filling repair kit.
Loose Tooth Cap Instructions
These are written instructions on how to use the lost filling and loose cap repair kit for a loose tooth cap or fallen off crown.Here are photos of each step of how to temporarily reglue your loose or fallen off crown.
Eligible conditions:
- Temporary crowns or permanent crowns.
- Dental bridges that fell off.
Conditions we do not recommend using it for:
- Implant crowns that fell off or loose.
- Dental veneers that cracked or fell off.
How to use to reglue crowns:
- Clean. Establish a clean working environment by brushing, flossing, and washing your hands with soap/water.
- Try in. Try your crown back on your tooth a couple of times so you familiarize yourself with the correct orientation. There should only be one direction that it fits in.
- Scoop. Remove a small pea sized amount of the material using the provided scoop.
- Place. Put the material directly into your tooth cap. You don’t have to spread the material around, it will spread itself out once you insert it on your tooth.
- Insert. Place your crown back on your tooth in the correct orientation.
- Finger pressure. Using your finger, press the dental cap into place as far as it can go.
- Bite. Close your teeth together and bite up and down a few times. Then grind your teeth side to side from left to right a couple of times. This ensures it is fully seated.
- Clean. Using a wet cotton tip, you can clean away the excess temp material from the gum margins.
- Floss. With a piece of floss, floss through the tooth but DON’T pull it back out. Pull the floss out to the side instead. This will prevent you from popping the crown off.
- Wait. Wait 2-3 hours before you eat anything to allow the material to set.
Once again, don’t forget that this is only temporary glue for your fallen off crown. You will want to see your dentist to have it recemented with permanent dental glue.
Permanent is better than temporary right?
Photos instructions
Here are photos of each step of how to temporarily reglue your loose or fallen off crown.
Video instructions
This is a video showing all of the steps on how to reglue your fallen off tooth cap.
Directions for other brands
The specific product that we used for this tutorial was from Walgreens but the instructions remain the same regardless of the brand. That means it doesn’t matter if you got it from Duane Reade, CVS, a local pharmacy or even online from Amazon. They will all work in the same way.
In fact, these are the same exact steps which we use for our professional temporary dental materials.
The images above are two commonly used temporary materials that we use at our office for our patients.
Takeaway
There are directions on how to use this on the back of the box but it’s difficult to follow for non-dental professionals. That is why we made this visual guide to help you understand how to use this product more effectively in your time of need.
Hopefully that was helpful!