Your bite feels high after new crowns: what is normal and what needs a recheck

You get home after having new crowns fitted, sit down to eat, and something is off. One tooth seems to hit before the others. Or the whole bite feels taller, as if you are biting on a thin coin. It is one of the most common things people mention after crown treatment, and in most cases it is either temporary or easy to fix. This article explains what a high spot is, how to tell normal settling from a bite that needs a recheck, and what the adjustment involves.

Why a new bite can feel strange at first

Your teeth are extremely sensitive to tiny changes in height. Most people can feel a hair caught between their back teeth, so a crown that is fractionally taller than the tooth it replaced is easy to notice. On top of that, your brain has spent years learning exactly how your old teeth met. When the shape of a tooth changes, even for the better, it takes a little while for chewing to feel automatic again.

The numbing injection also plays a part. Local anaesthetic stops nerves sending signals while it works, which is why the area feels completely numb during treatment (NHS). While your lip, tongue and the ligament around the tooth are numb, you cannot judge your bite well. Many people say their bite felt fine in the chair and wrong that evening. That is not necessarily a sign the dentist missed something. It is simply the first time you have felt the new crown properly.

Posture matters too. You close slightly differently lying back in a dental chair than sitting upright at a table. That is one reason a careful dentist checks the bite with you sitting up before the crowns are permanently fixed.

What a "high spot" actually is

Dentists call the way your upper and lower teeth meet your occlusion. When a crown is high, it means one point on that crown touches the opposite tooth before the rest of your teeth come together. Instead of the load being shared across many teeth, that single contact takes the force first, every time you close.

The British Dental Journal series on occlusion makes a useful point here: there are many theories about the ideal bite, but a bite can only really be judged by how the teeth, gums, jaw joints and muscles react to it (Davies and Gray, 2001). For simple crown work, the usual approach is to make the new crown fit in with the bite you already have, rather than redesign it (Davies, Gray and Smith, 2001). When a crown does not fit in, your body tends to tell you.

Normal settling or a real problem?

A rough guide. It is not a diagnosis, and if in doubt, ask.

The NHS advice on toothache is a sensible yardstick. It suggests seeing a dentist if pain lasts more than two days, does not settle with painkillers, or comes with pain when you bite, red gums or swelling. Swelling around the eye or neck, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, is an A&E matter, not a wait-and-see one (NHS).

What happens if a high spot is left

A high crown will not usually wear down by itself. Ceramics such as zirconia are hard, and people naturally start chewing around a sore tooth rather than grinding it flat. Left alone, a high spot can lead to a few things.

A tender tooth

The tooth that hits first takes extra force on every bite. It may become sore to chew on and feel slightly bruised. Pain on biting is one of the signs the NHS lists as a reason to see a dentist.

Jaw and muscle ache

When your teeth do not meet evenly, your jaw muscles may work harder or you may shift your bite to avoid the contact. Pain around the jaw, ear and temple, clicking, and difficulty opening fully are symptoms of temporomandibular disorder (TMD). The NHS notes that TMD usually gets better on its own, and that clenching makes it worse (NHS). An uneven bite is not the only cause, but it is worth ruling out.

Chipping

Ceramic chipping is one of the known technical complications of crowns. A large review of single crowns found that zirconia crowns with a layer of veneering porcelain were lost more often through fractures of that porcelain layer than metal-ceramic crowns (Sailer et al., 2015). A contact that takes all the force of your bite in one place does not help any crown. This is part of why material choice matters, and why our zirconia crowns page explains solid and layered options.

How a bite adjustment is done

For a single high spot, the fix is usually short and does not need an injection. You bite on thin coloured marking paper, which leaves marks where your teeth touch. The high point shows up as a darker or larger mark. The dentist smooths that point down a little, checks again, and repeats until the crown touches at the same time as your other teeth, both when you close straight and when you slide your jaw sideways.

The finishing step matters. An adjusted ceramic surface needs to be polished smooth again, because a rough surface can feel scratchy to your tongue and can be harder on the opposing tooth. Done well, a small adjustment should not weaken a crown in any meaningful way. If a crown needs a lot taken off to fit the bite, the better option may be to remake it, so the material stays at its intended thickness.

Being numb makes this harder, so where possible bite checks are done without anaesthetic, sitting upright, chewing normally.

Several crowns at once

When you have many teeth crowned in one go, as with full mouth crowns, the change is bigger. Tooth shapes, edges and sometimes the height of the bite all change together. A period of getting used to it is expected: speech, the feel of your front teeth meeting, and how you bite into a sandwich may all feel different for a while.

That adaptation has limits, though. Your teeth should meet evenly on both sides when you close. No single crown should be sore. Your jaw should not ache more each day. If any of those happen, the bite needs checking rather than more time. It is far easier to adjust a bite in the week of treatment than months later, which is one reason the planned appointments during the crown trip include a check after fitting.

If you notice it after you are back in the UK

Sometimes a high spot only shows itself once you are eating normally at home. Here is a sensible order of steps.

• Note which tooth it is, when it hurts (biting, chewing, at night) and whether it is getting better or worse.
• Take a clear photo of your teeth closed together, if you can.
• Avoid chewing hard foods on that side and do not chew gum while it is sore, in line with NHS self-help advice for jaw pain.
• Contact the clinic that made the crowns before anyone alters them.

The last point matters for your guarantee. Our crowns come with a 5-year written guarantee, and guarantee work is done at our clinic in Antalya. Work by other dentists is not covered, so if a crown is altered elsewhere first, that can affect what we can do under the guarantee. Talk to us, send photos, and your coordinator will tell you whether it needs urgent attention or can be checked on a planned visit. The full terms are on our guarantee page. If you are in real pain or have swelling, get seen locally; your health comes first.

How we try to prevent high spots

At Precious Dental, a Ministry of Health licensed clinic in Antalya, teeth are digitally scanned and crowns are designed to your recorded bite. Before anything is fixed permanently, fit, bite and shade are checked at a try-in, with you sitting up and able to give feedback. That catches most problems while they are still easy to change.

No process makes adjustment unnecessary every time, because your bite on a quiet morning in the clinic is not exactly your bite after a long day of clenching. So we would rather you told us early. If you have heavy grinding habits, read our guide to grinding, clenching and crowns, as it changes both the material we suggest and how the bite is set. For general care afterwards, see aftercare and longevity.

Not sure if your bite is right?

If a new crown feels high, a tooth is sore to bite on, or your jaw has started to ache, send us a message through our contact page or on WhatsApp with a short description and a photo. We will tell you honestly whether it sounds like normal settling or something that needs to be looked at.

Common questions

Will a high crown wear down by itself?

Usually not. Modern crown ceramics are hard, and the bite tends to protect a high tooth by making you chew around it rather than grinding it flat. A crown that is still hitting first after a few days should be checked and adjusted rather than left.

Why did my bite feel fine in the chair and wrong at home?

If you were numb, you could not feel your bite properly, and lying back in a dental chair changes how your jaw closes. Many people only notice a high spot once the anaesthetic wears off and they eat a normal meal sitting upright.

Can a UK dentist adjust a crown made in Turkey?

Physically, yes, a small polish is a routine job for any dentist. Talk to us first, though, because changes made by another dentist are outside our guarantee. Your coordinator can look at photos and tell you whether it can wait for a check with us. Our guarantee page explains the terms.

Is it normal for all my teeth to feel strange after full mouth crowns?

A period of getting used to new tooth shapes is common when many teeth change at once. What should not happen is one tooth being sore to bite on, jaw pain that gets worse, or teeth that do not meet evenly on both sides. Those need a check.

Does adjusting the bite damage the crown?

A small adjustment followed by careful polishing is normal practice. The dentist removes only what is needed where the marks show contact, then polishes the surface smooth again. Large adjustments are a different matter and may mean the crown should be remade.

Sources

1. Davies S, Gray RM (2001). What is occlusion? British Dental Journal
2. Davies SJ, Gray RM, Smith PW (2001). Good occlusal practice in simple restorative dentistry. British Dental Journal
3. NHS. Temporomandibular disorder (TMD)
4. NHS. Toothache
5. NHS. Local anaesthetic
6. Sailer I et al. (2015). All-ceramic or metal-ceramic tooth-supported fixed dental prostheses (FDPs)? A systematic review of the survival and complication rates. Part I: Single crowns (SCs). Dental Materials

Checked October 2026. Where we give our own view as a clinic, we say so.