What are dental crowns?

Dental crowns are used in order to protect damaged, cracked or broken teeth. A crown can strengthen your existing, damaged tooth so as to conserve its functionality. Dental crowns are usually known as caps since a crown is fixed over the existing tooth, covering the complete external surface.

There are various dental problems that can be repaired with a crown. If your tooth has suffered substantial decay and there is no adequate tooth structure left behind to back a filling or an inlay and sustain functionality, you will need a crown. Or in a case where a big part of your tooth is fractured and it is not possible to restore it with traditional composite bonding methods, you can make use of a crown to restore it. There can be situations, where you have a huge cavity and you need to go for extra protection, then a crown is provided to your tooth over a large composite filling or an inlay. And also, if you have to go through a dental implant in order to replace a missing tooth, you will get a crown fitted to the abutment of the titanium implant. Crowns are used after the root canal treatment to make the tooth stronger. If you grind your teeth and have a poor diet, acid may erode your teeth to a level where the only alternative available is to crown them. Crowns are also used for cosmetic intentions as well. Using porcelain cosmetic crowns the look of your smile can be enhanced.

Crowns re always not the best option you have because to fix the dentist have to grind a substantial part of the original tooth away. Therefore crowns should not be the first option to consider if you want to enhance the aesthetics of your teeth. There are other less disturbing options available to enhance aesthetics of your teeth such as veneers and dental bonding. Crowns are used when the tooth that supports the restoration is not strong enough because both veneers and dental bonding depend on the strength of the supporting tooth.
Crowns are made from a range of materials, for example you can even go for crowns which are made from full gold. And there are crowns made of other materials such as the ones made with a blend of metals attached to a porcelain outer shell. Later on, crowns made from a blend of metal attached to porcelain can start to reveal dark gum lines which don’t look appealing. If you want a natural look you should select all-porcelain or -ceramic crowns. You will find so many brands and styles of porcelain crowns available today at different prices, the price of these dental crowns may vary depending on the quality of the materials used.

So, what is the process of getting dental crowns? During your first appointment your dentist will discuss all the treatment options available to you. If he decides dental crown is the best option then he will prepare the tooth for crowning. The first step is to clean the tooth, take out any decay and reshape it with a burr which is a special dental drill for shaping teeth. The dentist will use local anesthesia for this. The second step is to take an impression or a mould of your teeth. This impression will be sent to a dental laboratory, to make the new crown. Since it takes two to three weeks for them to make your new crown, your dentist will fit you with a temporary crown. On your second visit, your dentist will remove the temporary crown and fit the new crown over your tooth.



Larry Steevan is the PR Manager at Dental & Health on Clarendon, Dentists Port Melbourne. They are specialized for many dental treatments including cosmetic dentistry , dental implants Melbourne , teeth white filling, dental veneers , crowns and bridges. They are more popular as Cosmetic Dentists Melbourne