Dental Crown Types, Procedure, & When Are They Required
Dental crowns are tooth caps helpful for encasing a damaged or discolored tooth. The tooth caps are beneficial to protect, cover, and restore your teeth’s shape when fillings are insufficient to resolve the problem. Various materials help make dental crowns that don’t require special attention besides excellent dental hygiene habits.
Suppose you are in the show business where your appearance matters; you may want your teeth to appear as good as your skin. Unfortunately, if you have misshapen, discolored, or damaged teeth, a visit to the dentist in Garrettsville, OH, is a requirement you cannot overlook. If you consider having dental crowns to enhance the aesthetic appearance of your teeth to complement your looks, you must consider how many teeth you want to have encased and what types of dental crowns you prefer. If you have an entire set of damaged or discolored teeth, you find it better to consider alternative options because dental crowns are not the most affordable restorations.
Why Are You Considering Dental Crowns for Your Teeth?
Dental crowns serve many purposes, and the reasons why you may need them are various. For example, you can protect a weak tooth from decay or damages from breaking or keep the weakened tooth together if parts of it are breaking.
You can restore a broken tooth or a severely worn down tooth or cover and support a tooth with a large filling without sufficient tooth structure remaining. Dental crowns also help cover discolored teeth for aesthetic purposes or a tooth that has undergone root canal treatment. If you have missing teeth and consider dental bridges or implants, dental crowns are helpful to hold the bridge or cover the dental implant. Therefore before you decide on why you need the tooth restoration, you must visit dental crowns near you to consult about your specific needs.
Types of Dental Crowns
As mentioned earlier, various materials like metals, all resin, pressed ceramic, porcelain fused to metal, all-ceramic all-porcelain help make dental crowns. The type of dental crown suitable for you depends on the location of the tooth, its visibility, the costs of the dental crown, your dentist’s experience, and any other treatments you need before getting the restorations.
The Dental Crown Procedure
The dental crown procedure typically requires two visits to dental crowns in Garrettsville, OH.
The first visit is to have the tooth needing the crown examined and prepared. The dentist takes x-rays of the tooth and bone surrounding it. If your tooth is affected by decay or prone to the risk of infections or injury to the tooth’s pulp, the dentist recommends root canal therapy before proceeding with the dental crown procedure. However, if no issues are present, the dentist begins the preparation by giving you local anesthesia to numb the tooth before filing the tooth from the top and sides to accommodate the dental crown. How much tooth structure removal is necessary depends on the material of the crown. For example, metal crowns don’t require sufficient tooth structure removal than all-porcelain or porcelain fused to metal crowns.
After reshaping your tooth, the dentist takes impressions of the tooth, receiving the crown and the teeth above and below the tooth. The images help ensure the crown doesn’t affect your bite. The impressions are for the dental laboratory to fabricate your customized dental restorations, which require approximately three weeks. Meanwhile, you receive temporary crowns over the prepared tooth to protect it as you wait for the permanent restoration.
You must schedule another appointment with the dentist after three weeks when the dental lab returns your customized dental crown. During the second appointment, the dentist starts the procedure by removing the temporary crown and checking the permanent restoration for color and fit. You receive local anesthesia again to numb the tooth if required before the permanent restoration is permanently bonded over the prepared tooth.
Does Your Crowned Tooth Need Special Care?
Your crowned tooth does not require special attention besides maintaining excellent dental hygiene. It helps if you understand the tooth beneath the crown needs protection from decay and gum disease. Therefore you must practice brushing twice a day, flossing at least once, and schedule appointments with your dentist Ravenna for cleanings to eliminate any plaque buildup around the tooth. You must make every effort to ensure you don’t become a victim of gum disease to require further treatments on the restored tooth.
If you care for the crowned tooth appropriately, rest assured the dental crown will remain over your tooth for five to 15 years.