The Facts About Dental Crowns: What You Should Know

What are dental crowns?

This is such a rudimentary question, we often forget how important it is. For patients coming in for the first time in need of dental crowns, it should be and is the first thing we must talk about. Dental crowns are also called dental caps, or just caps for short. A dental crown is a prosthetic device attached to your teeth in such a manner that it completely covers the top of the tooth, and sometimes a large portion of the visible enamel. This is where dental crowns get their name. We use dental crowns to restore teeth that have become worn down, as a replacement for teeth that have been lost, or to fix teeth that have been damaged with severe cracks, chips, or breaks. Crowns can also be used when there is severe infection that threatens the tooth or the overall health of the mouth.

When are dental crowns used?

Dental crowns are used in a wide range of applications because of their versatility, and because they do such a good job stemming damage in teeth and strengthening what is left. Dental crowns are literally used to protect, enhance, strengthen, and even replace your teeth. Traditionally, you will find dental crowns being used in areas where the tooth has undergone severe trauma, be it from force or from infection or gum disease. In cases like this, the tooth may be too weak to sustain a filling. In other cases, the crack may be simply too deep or the chip may have taken too much of the tooth. This would prevent us from using a traditional filling, which could fall out. When we find a tooth or teeth, in this dire condition, we turn to our most powerful tool, the dental crowns. Sometimes, a tooth simply cannot be saved. In cases where the tooth must be replaced, we use dental crowns in conjunction with dental implants to give you an exceedingly secure and very realistic-looking tooth replacement. This tooth looks, feels, and acts like your natural tooth because it is made up of materials designed to give you that effect.

How are dental crowns attached or placed?

In order to place dental crowns, we will typically take two appointments. The first appointment is to prepare you for dental crowns. We will take a full examination of your mouth and shave down the enamel on the affected teeth to remove any defects and decay while also preparing them for the dental crowns placement. Then we will put in a set of temporary crowns. These will protect the teeth as the laboratory is fabricating a perfectly matched set of crowns for you. They will use the measurements and imprints we take during that first visit to build your dental crowns customized just for you. On your second visit, we will fit the permanent dental crowns into your mouth, and once we are satisfied with the bite, look, and feel of them, they will be cemented into place.