Dental emergency on board - what not to do

[sleepingcat]

As (bad) luck would have it, a  gold crown fell out just as we were starting 3 sea days on our way back to Portsmouth from Funchal.  I was not too happy about 3 days of sharp edges and food getting trapped in the cavity.

 

Owing to the excellent free wifi on board (thank you Saga) I was able to email my dental practice and book in for the day after our return.

 

Then I went to the ships health centre to see if they had temporary repair kits, they did, but only the one for dentures which they sold me for £16.00 and the doctor advised that I could use the paste in it to make a temporary filling. WRONG ! Just in case I emailed my practice again to check.  They said NO! on no account use this kit, as the paste contains an acrylic which will be very difficult to remove from natural teeth.  I dont in the least blame the doctor, after all he's not a dental surgeon. 

 

Next evening we were fortunate to have dinner with a couple who happened to have packed a temporary tooth repair kit and kindly passed it on to me. Don't you nearly always meet with lovely people on cruise ships?  Using it to make a temporary filling for my gap was pretty difficult but I did succeed. (use much less than you think is the main advice).

Happy to say the crown is now back in place. the temporary filling floated out just with the water scaler and left a nice clean cavity. 

So here is the advice, buy a reputable dental repair kit to take with you on your next cruise. If you dont need it, someone else probably will. 

 

[ChristopherTracy]

I was hoping this would have a description of how you did it rather like the Would I Lie to You episode with Bob Mortimer!

[John Bull]

On 2/8/2024 at 10:25 AM, ChristopherTracy said:

I was hoping this would have a description of how you did it rather like the Would I Lie to You episode with Bob Mortimer!

 

I remember that episode 🤣🤣🤣

 

JB  🙂