The Super Dentists co-founder, Dr. Kami Hoss, says that ‘routine dental care’ can prevent that.
Chrissy Teigen is having an eventful — and potentially painful — few days.
First, the cookbook author “got scolded” for Instagramming too much of the rehearsal for the US presidential inauguration celebration where her husband John Legend performed.
Then, right after the inauguration celebration on Wednesday, she says she lost a tooth while snacking on a fruit roll-up.
Teigen shared the dental ordeal with her followers on social media. She posted a video where she can be heard saying “I just lost my tooth in a fruit roll-up.”
Technically, Teigen later clarified, what she had lost was a cap, also known as a dental crown, which is a tooth-shaped cap placed over teeth that might have become damaged over time or due to some kind of injury.
Still, Teigen added that she “loved him like he was a real tooth” in a follow-up tweet. In either case — ouch.
An expert says Teigen’s tooth mishap is easy to avoid
Insider spoke to an orthodontist who said it’s actually quite easy to prevent a crown from falling out the next time you’re enjoying a sticky snack.
“People should maintain their routine dental care including their routine visits to the dentist so any early sign of a loose crown can be immediately dealt with,” Dr. Kami Hoss, an orthodontist based in California, told Insider.
Hoss added that because the video is blurry, he couldn’t quite make out if Teigen lost a temporary crown or a permanent one. He says it’s “fairly uncommon” for a permanent crown to fall off like this, but not impossible.
According to Hoss, a permanent crown could potentially fall out while eating depending on a number of factors, including how tight the crown was to begin with, its age, condition, the bonding material used to place it, and, of course, how sticky the food is.
“If the crown is fitted correctly and it is in a good shape, then it’s unlikely it’ll get loose from typical sticky foods including roll-ups,” he told Insider.
If your crown does come off like Teigen’s, don’t try any DIY remedies — get it fixed by a professional right away
“As a general rule, people should avoid doing any DIY procedures to glue the crown back on. I’ve seen people using super glue to bond their crowns back,” Hoss said.
He added that super glue is toxic and can create problems down the road for the dentist who has to more permanently fix the crown.
Hoss says to go see a dentist soon after your crown comes loose to avoid cavities and to make sure the teeth around the lost crown are properly aligned.
Teigen’s fans tried to cheer her up and offer solidarity
Teigen’s 13.6 million Twitter followers were sympathetic to her fallen crown and offered solidarity in the form of similar anecdotes.
One person said they’d lost their crown to a popcorn kernel.
—Katie Clifford (@replikate) January 21, 2021
Meteorologist Kimi Evans said she lost hers to a ginger chew.
—Kimi Evans (@kimievansmedia) January 21, 2021
One follower simply offered a bit of humor with a dentistry pun.
—Shannon S. (@MizShannonS) January 21, 2021
It’s unclear whether Teigen has gone back to her dentist yet, like Hoss suggests, but she did say that her family is back home in Los Angeles in a tweet this afternoon.
This article by Debanjali Bose was originally posted on Insider.com on January 21.
