Comprehensive Information about Dental Crowns You Must Have

Tooth caps customized and placed over damaged teeth are called dental crowns. The dental caps help protect, cover, and restore the shape of damaged teeth when fillings are inadequate to solve the problem. Various materials help make dental crowns that don’t require special attention over time besides good oral hygiene.

What Is a Dental Crown?

Your teeth sustain damage over time for various reasons such as tooth decay, injuries, or overuse. As a result, the teeth can change shape or size. Dental crowns resemble tooth-shaped caps that are placed over your tooth. Crowns fit like a snug hat over your tooth to restore its shape, appearance, size, and strength.

Dental crowns are bonded over your tooth to cover its entire visible portion.

When Might You Need a Dental Crown?

You might need dental crowns in New York for many reasons, including protecting a weakened tooth from breaking or keeping it together if it has already cracked. Crowns also help restore a broken tooth or one severely worn down.

The tooth caps can cover and support a tooth with large fillings and without sufficient tooth structure. Crowns are also helpful for holding dental bridges and covering dental implants. You can also have a dental crown to cover a severely discolored tooth or one that is misshapen.

If you recently underwent endodontic therapy, the treatment renders your tooth fragile and requires a dental crown to protect it.

The Different Types of Crowns

As mentioned earlier, various materials like metals, porcelain fused to metal, all-ceramic or all-porcelain, pressed ceramic, and all resin help make dental crowns. Metal crowns include gold, nickel, chromium, and palladium and are generally provided by the pediatric dentist upper east side for children with damaged or decayed teeth.

Porcelain fused to metal crowns is matched to the color of the teeth neighboring the crown. This variety has a natural color making them an ideal choice for restoring front or back teeth.

If you favor dental crowns with the best natural shade than any other, you can prefer all-ceramic crowns, especially if you are allergic to metals. All-ceramic crowns are an excellent choice for your front teeth.

The Tooth Preparation Procedure for Dental Crowns

Whether you need dental crowns for yourself or your kid, the tooth preparation procedure typically requires two visits to the dentist.

During the first visit, the tooth receiving the dental crown undergoes examination and preparation. X-rays of the tooth and the bone around it are taken by the dentist, who might recommend root canal therapy if the tooth has decay, risk of infections, or injuries to the dental pulp.

If the tooth is in acceptable condition, it undergoes filing from the tops and sides to accommodate the dental crown. How much tooth structure removal is necessary depends on the type of crowns selected. Children usually receive all-metal crowns that are thinner and don’t need extensive tooth structure removal. The tooth preparation procedure is uncomfortable, but the dentist provides anesthesia to ensure comfort.

After reshaping the tooth, impressions are taken of it and the teeth above and below to ensure the dental crown will not affect your bite. The impressions are for the dental laboratory to custom create your dental crown and require approximately three weeks before it is delivered. Meanwhile, the dentist provides a temporary crown over the prepared tooth for protection until you wait for your permanent restoration.

Three weeks down the line, you revisit the dentist when they first remove the temporary crown and place the permanent restoration over the tooth to verify if the fit and color are appropriate. All things being acceptable, the dental crown is permanently bonded over the affected tooth.

Dental crowns are durable restorations lasting between five and 15 years. They don’t need any special attention besides caring for your teeth appropriately and ensuring they are protected from tooth decay and gum disease. However, you must understand that you have a natural tooth lying beneath the dental crown, prone to infections around the crown area. Therefore you must ensure you follow good oral hygiene practices by brushing and flossing your teeth as recommended by your dentist and avoid using your teeth for purposes other than eating or chewing.

Smile Up Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics — Dr. Robert Sonn, Dr. Amy Patel, and Dr. Peter H Chen provide dental crowns for kids with damaged teeth. Please schedule an appointment with this practice if your child needs a dental crown.