Crown
What is a dental crown?
A crown is a cap used to entirely cover a damaged tooth. Besides strengthening a damaged tooth, a crown can be used to improve its appearance, shape or alignment. A crown can also be placed on top of an implant to provide a tooth-like shape and structure for functioning. Fortunately, porcelain or ceramic crowns can be matched to the colour of your natural teeth.
When do I need a dental crown?
A crown is suitable when you are needing to:
- Replace a large filling when there is not enough tooth remaining
- Fix discoloured tooth
- Protect a weak tooth from fracturing
- Restore a fractured tooth
- Attach a bridge
- Cover dental implant(s)
- protect a tooth that has undergone root canal treatment
- Cosmetically re-arranging / realigning your teeth.
Will my crown look natural?
Dental crowns are made to match the colour of your teeth and will look natural. If you need to have multiple teeth crowned, we will talk to you about all the factors to give you a natural-looking smile.
Will it hurt to have a crown placed?
Typically, the treatment is pain-free, but each patient is different. Some feel no discomfort at all, and others will experience some hot/cold sensitivity. If you’re concerned about pain, please let us know! We’ll do all we can to make sure every patient has a comfortable experience at our office.
How many appointments will it take?
Dental crowns typically require two visits to our office. The first session is when your tooth will be prepared, we scan your tooth to replicate the model on which the crown is fabricated to create a permanent crown, meanwhile a temporary crown will be placed to keep using your tooth.
The second appointment is when your permanent crown is properly fitted and cemented in place.
Can a crowned tooth get a cavity?
While a crown cannot get a dental cavity, the tooth underneath can still become diseased. This makes it important for you to care for crowned teeth the same way you care for natural teeth.
How long will my crown last?
If you practise good oral hygiene, your crown can last a lifetime. Decay occurring on the underlying natural tooth can cause the crown to weaken or fall out. It’s important to keep regular dental appointments so we can make sure your crowns last and the underlying teeth are healthy.
Bridge
What is a dental bridge?
A dental bridge is when two or more crowns are connected together to replace missing teeth.
They are placed over your natural teeth that are prepared to receive the bridge or over two implant stumps to cover a long span of missing space.
Unlike dentures, they are permanent fixtures and don’t need to be removed every now and then.
They look and feel natural and are easy to use.
What happens when I have missing teeth?
This is what can happen:
- The opposing molar may super-erupt
- The unprotected edge is subject to trauma
- The neighbouring teeth til and proper functional balance is destroyed
- The drifting teeth create food-impaction areas where decay can start or where periodontal disease can start
- Destruction of the bone will result in teeth drift and tip
The loss of teeth is associated with diminished self-confidence and of course chewing difficulties.
So, it is necessary to replace the missing teeth as early as possible with something that resembles your natural teeth to the maximum.
With recent developments in dentistry, a number of options are now available to patients to choose from.
What is the alternative to dental bridges?
Missing teeth can be replaced with dental implants or dentures as well.