Dental Crowns 101

Dental crowns are important for dental repair and can be used to help make your smile healthy and beautiful again. They are used to help improve the strength, size, shape, and overall appearance of your natural teeth.

What Is a Dental Crown?
A dental crown is a type of protective covering that fits snugly over a tooth. It covers the tooth all the way down to the gum line. Depending on what it’s made of, a crown often looks just like a healthy tooth, and it can be difficult or impossible to tell if someone has one.

Crowns can be made from a number of different types of materials. The most commonly used ones are: porclain ,zirconia and metal.

Most dentists recommend getting either a porcelain or metal crown (or a combination of the two fused together). These crowns tend to be strong and hold up well over time. Porcelain crowns are also the most natural-looking choice. Zirconia is a new product that is becoming more popular and is stronger than porcelain.

High-quality dental crowns are made to order and customized directly for your mouth. If you decide to get a dental crown, your dentist will take an impression of your tooth during a preliminary visit. The impression is then sent to a lab, where a technician creates a crown that will fit your tooth perfectly and look similar to your other teeth.  After the crown is made, you’ll return to the dentist’s office, and your dentist will cement the crown over your tooth. Dental crowns are semi-permanent, as long as they are well-made. Most will last between 10 and 15 years with proper care.

What Are Dental Crowns Used For?
A dental crown is used to cover a tooth that is damaged in some way. Crowns are often used to strengthen a weakened tooth, to make a damaged tooth more useful for chewing, or simply to make a tooth work better. People generally get dental crowns for a combination of these three reasons.

A dental crown is a great treatment alternative to completely removing the tooth. A tooth extraction can come with complications and side effects. Missing teeth can lead to shift of the adjacent on opposing teeth and creation of spaces.

Dentists often recommend dental crowns to patients who have cracked teeth. Sometimes crowns can also be useful for people who have cavities or another type of severe tooth damage. However, it’s important to be aware that a dental crown is not a one-size-fits-all solution. If you have problems with one or more teeth, you most likely have numerous options for treatment, and getting a crown is only one of them.

if you have had to have a Root Canal Therapy on a tooth , it will become more and more brittle over the years . It is highly recomended tto place a crown or an onlay on such teeth to anoid fracture and loss of the tooth.

if you need any more information please call Westminster Family Dentistry at (714)893-1356