Dental Crowns
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Who Needs Crowns? Crowns benefit both adult and child patients. For adults, a crown can safeguard a weak or cracked tooth, restore a broken tooth, or cover and support a tooth with a large filling and not much tooth left. Crowns can also hold dental bridges in place. Cosmetically, crowns can also improve the appearance of stained, misshapen, or chipped teeth and are used to cover dental implants.
In children, crowns may be used on primary teeth for several reasons. If a tooth has been too damaged by decay to support a filling, a crown will save it. Children at high risk of tooth decay due to an inability to keep up with daily oral hygiene might have crowns placed to protect their teeth. Consult with Dr. Willis if you think your child might need a crown. Pros and Cons of Porcelain & Ceramic Crowns The main advantage of a crown is the protection it provides to a tooth. Extracting a tooth can lead to future dental problems such as shifting adjacent teeth and jawbone loss. Crowns protect your tooth from additional damage and provide you with a bright and healthy smile.
A PFM crown can be colored to look like a natural tooth while providing enduring strength through its metal base, so it suffers less wear and tear through your daily actions of biting and chewing. But the porcelain top of the crown can chip or break off, and sometimes the metal base can show at the gum line as a dark line. Porcelain and ceramic crowns are suitable if you have metal allergies, and they can be created to resemble your own teeth. However, they aren’t as strong as PFM crowns, and they can wear down adjoining teeth a little more than metal crowns can. |
Esthetic Porcelain & Ceramic Crowns Typically, a crown is made from ceramic, porcelain, or metals such as gold. While metal crowns – palladium, gold, or nickel alloy – have a higher rate of endurance, permanent crowns can also be made of porcelain-fused-to-metal (PFM), resin, or complete metal-free ceramic. Porcelain and ceramic crowns are popular options look and feel like your natural teeth and can be colored to match. They can be bonded directly to the tooth, creating a tighter seal against food particles and bacteria.
An all-porcelain or all-ceramic crown is, as the name indicates, made of porcelain or ceramic so that they resemble natural teeth closely. They are often used to restore front teeth or for patients with metal allergies. They can also be made thinner so that less of the natural tooth structure needs to be smoothed down for a fit. We offer porcelain, ceramic, and metal crowns for our patients at Creedmoor Family Dentistry because we want you to be comfortable and satisfied with the look and feel of your teeth. Dr. Willis will have you come in for an examination and discuss your options before placing your crown. At that time you will have the opportunity to decide what sort of crown would suit your needs |