Dental Crowns

Dental Crowns

April 9, 2020 8:07 am Published by

A crown is essentially a cap, specifically shaped to cover your tooth in order to either strengthen it, maintain its size or enhance its appearance. First, an ‘impression’ of the tooth is taken by creating a plaster mould. Once the crown has been prepared, it is then cemented into position completely covering the existing tooth.

Purpose of Crowns

A crown may be fitted for different purposes. It may be to protect a fragile or cracked tooth from breaking apart, to restore a tooth that has already been broken, or to cover a tooth that has a major filling and is prone to breaking. Other applications may be to hold a dental bridge in position or for esthetic purposes to cover a discolored or misshapen tooth.

Different Types of Crowns

The advanced state-of-the-art dental technology, along with material and adhesive development have allowed this treatment modality to be esthetic, natural looking and long lasting.

Crowns can be made of different materials – mainly depending on which part of the mouth they will be used in.

Metal crowns – are the least commonly used these days, due to their metalic color. They are made of noble gold alloys (gold, platinum or paladium), a base metal (silver, copper or tin) or other alloys. Although the least esthetic, those are probably the most resilient, longest-lasting and chip-proof of all crowns. Thus, they are sometimes used for non-visible teeth such as molars.

Porcelain-fused-to-metal – as the name suggests, these are metal crowns with a porcelain coating. Unlike metal, their color can be matched to your existing teeth, making them highly esthetic. That said, they can be a good application for front or back teeth.

All-ceramic or all-porcelain – these have the most natural look of all crown materials and are therefore best used for front teeth.

Preparation and Caring For Your Crown

You would normally need two visits to fit a crown – the first one for examination, preparation and taking the impression, and the second one to fit the permanent crown.

Once the crown has been fitted, it doesn’t need any special care, apart from regular continued attention to oral hygiene. Crowning a tooth does not provide complete protection from decay or gum disease, hence effective brushing twice a day, flossing once a day – particularly around the crown area, and regular six-monthly check-ups remain essential.

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