Dental Crowns: Restoring Strength, Shape, and Aesthetics

Dental crowns are snugly fitting covers that encase a damaged tooth to restore its shape, size, strength, and appearance. They may also support dental bridges or cover dental implants.

Your dentist numbs the tooth and gum tissue before reshaping it to make room for the crown. They may take impressions with a putty-like material or use a digital scanner.

Benefits

Dental crowns Smiths Grove KY help repair broken teeth, protect weak ones from further damage and improve the appearance of misshapen or discolored ones. They are made from durable materials that can withstand normal chewing and biting forces, and look and feel just like your natural tooth.

Regardless of the material your dentist chooses for your crown, it will be custom-designed and fabricated in a lab to ensure a precise fit, and to match your natural tooth color. Typically, crowns are made from a gold alloy or other metals for strength and durability. However, ceramic or porcelain crowns are more common because they provide a more tooth-like aesthetic.

Porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns, also known as PFM crowns, have a metal core and are a good choice for back teeth because they can withstand a heavier bite force. They are available in various metals and can be matched to your natural tooth color, but they don’t have the translucency of lithium disilicate crowns.

Materials

Crowns can be fabricated from a variety of materials. The best material for a crown depends on the tooth’s function. For instance, crowns fabricated from porcelain or ceramic are most like the color of your natural teeth. These are also durable. Crowns crafted from resin or acrylic may have a less aesthetically pleasing appearance, but they are inexpensive.

Metal crowns, also called PFM crowns, withstand biting and chewing forces well, but they can wear down the adjacent teeth. This is especially true in back teeth with large fillings. These crowns can be color-matched to your teeth, but they may show a dark line next to the gums.

Porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns look most like natural teeth and are less prone to chipping, but the metal under the porcelain can show through and discolor the tooth. Monolithic zirconia crowns are the most durable, but they do not offer the aesthetics of porcelain. A temporary crown is often made from resin or acrylic while waiting for the definitive crown to be fabricated.

Procedure

Dental crowns are tooth-shaped caps that dentists use to restore weak, broken or decayed teeth. They can also be used to cover a severely discolored tooth or to reinforce a dental implant or bridge.

To make a crown, your dentist will first need to reshape the tooth by removing some of its natural enamel. Then, they will take dental impressions of the tooth using a putty-like material or digital scanner and send them to a lab where a technician will craft your custom crown.

For crowns that have a metal part, the dentist must ensure that the alloy selected matches the properties of the ceramic, otherwise problems like delamination and fracture could occur. Additionally, crowns with a porcelain-fused-to-metal core can develop a dark line next to the gum when the crown wears, although this is rare. These can be corrected by re-cementing the crown or replacing it with an all porcelain or ceramic one. Lastly, if you are having pain or sensitivity in your newly crowned tooth, call your dentist. It may be that the anesthesia is wearing off and you should schedule a follow up visit.

Maintenance

A dental crowns Smiths Grove KY also known as a cap, is a custom-designed restoration that covers and protects damaged or weakened teeth. These durable, natural-looking restorations blend in with your smile and enhance its appearance, as well. They can help with a variety of dental issues, from protecting severely worn or decayed teeth to repairing fractured or large fillings and supporting a tooth with a bridge or an implant.

Crowns can be made of porcelain-fused-to-metal (PFM), all metal, or all ceramic. Metal crowns are the strongest and best suited for back molars, as they can withstand strong biting and chewing forces. However, they have a metallic appearance that can become unsightly over time.

All-ceramic crowns are more aesthetically pleasing, and they mimic the translucency of natural tooth enamel better than other crown types. However, they are more susceptible to chipping than PFM and all-metal crowns. If a crown chips, contact your dentist for advice on how to repair it.