Dental Crowns and Bridges
Important reasons you may need dental crowns and bridges
Unless you are the king or queen of a country, won a recent beauty pageant, or dressed up as a prince or princess at some point in your life, you probably haven’t needed to wear a crown. There is another type of crown that many people do need to wear and it’s in their mouth. It is a dental crown.
Why would you need a dental crown? To protect your tooth from further danger and destruction. This type of crown is a cap that your dentist puts on top of a damaged tooth to protect your tooth. A crown is made of a combination of materials including porcelain, ceramics, metal alloys, and composite resins. Once placed over your existing tooth, the new crown will look just like your natural teeth. A dental crown helps restore the stability of the tooth. Some people think that dental crowns are not necessary, but they provide many benefits such as restoring the look of your teeth to preventing larger issues from developing.
These are some of the reasons you may need a dental crown:
Tooth Decay
Tooth decay will make your teeth weak and defenseless against loss. If decay affects a tooth long enough it becomes a dental cavity. Your dentist will normally drill away the cavity and replace it with a dental filling. But if you have a large enough cavity in your tooth or multiple cavities in the same tooth, the amount of natural tooth will decrease. The material used for fillings needs enough of a surface to attach to or it won’t work. This is where dental crowns come into play. It will keep the rest of your tooth protected.
Broken Tooth
When you chip or break your tooth, one of your tooth repair options will be a dental crown. Depending on how bad the broken tooth is, a dental crown may seem pretty obvious as a fix to cover and protect the broken tooth. But when a crown is recommended by your dentist for a small chip or crack, you may think this is unnecessary. Keep in mind that even small cracks can make your teeth vulnerable to infections or cavities down the road. A dental crown can stop the damage from happening in the future.
Root Canal
A root canal is probably one of the most common times when a crown is recommended by your dentist or endodontist. A root canal will leave the tooth vulnerable to more damage and infection if it is not covered with a crown. Installing a dental crown will protect your tooth and allow it to function normally.
Teeth Worn Down from Grinding
Have you been told by your dentist that you grind your teeth? Grinding causes teeth to wear down. Adding dental crowns to damaged teeth will restore the teeth and help protect the rest of the original tooth. In addition, this will now help with your chewing. After you have your crowns installed, your dentist will recommend you use a night guard to protect your crowns from future grinding damage.
Dental Bridge
Dental bridges are used together with crowns. If you have lost a tooth and a dental implant is not an option, your next choice is a dental bridge. If there are healthy teeth surrounding the area of the missing tooth, a bridge can be placed there. One crown will be placed on one or more surrounding good teeth as anchors for the crown in the middle, which now covers the missing tooth area.
What are crowns made of?
- Porcelain-fused-to-metal – this type of dental crown can be color-matched to your adjacent teeth
- All ceramic or all porcelain
- All resin
- Metals such as gold, platinum, or base metal alloys
- Stainless steel – usually used as temporary crowns while the permanent crown is being created
Dental Crowns Equal Better Dental Health
Your crown or crowns will help prevent tooth decay and damage in the future as well as restore healthy function to damaged teeth and your bite. Crowns and bridges can help restore your confidence in a nice smile and also give you the ability to chew properly. If you have more questions about these procedures or the cost associated with crowns, please give our knowledgeable staff a call to schedule your free consultation.
Video: Dr. Eberlein talks about dental crowns and bridges.
Dental Services We Offer
DENTAL EMERGENCY SERVICES
Alleviate the pain and address the problem!
RESTORATIVE DENTISTRY
Giving you the smile you lost!
PREVENTATIVE DENTISTRY
Fixing your smile in advance!
