How Dental Crowns Can Save Your Teeth
Dental crowns in Jamaica Plain are tooth caps placed on damaged teeth to protect, reshape, and improve their appearance. They are often used in situations where dental fillings cannot solve the problem.
Dental crowns by Pondside Dental Associates can be made using different materials, including metals, ceramics, and resin, according to the function and appearance required. Crowns do not require any special care other than standard oral hygiene. This article discusses the various types of dental crowns near you and how they work.
What Are Dental Crowns
With time, your teeth may get damaged. This can be due to tooth decay, injuries, or wear down after use for several years. Your teeth’ shape and size can also change—this is where dental crowns come in.
The dentist in Jamaica Plain places tooth-shaped caps over the affected tooth/teeth to alter its shape, function, and appearance. You can think of crowns more as snug hats for the teeth. Thus, dental crowns have the sole purpose of restoring the shape, size, and appearance of the teeth by covering the visible parts of the tooth.
Why Would You Need a Dental Crown?
Your dentist Roslindale can recommend a dental crown for any of the following reasons.
- Protecting a tooth weakened by decay and physical trauma or fastening a fractured tooth by holding the pieces together.
- Restoring a broken tooth or a severely eaten away tooth.
- Covering and supporting teeth with an extensive filling and that do not have enough healthy tooth left.
- Holding in place a dental bridge.
- Covering distorted or very discolored tooth
- Casing a dental implant post
- Covering a tooth after a root canal procedure.
What Are The Types?
The types of dental crowns vary mainly according to the materials used. However, they are also classified according to the duration of time and function used for.
- Metal: Several metals are used in dental crowns, such as gold, chromium, and nickel. Metal crowns are preferred because they rarely chip or break and are the most long-lasting in terms of weathering. Their preparation procedure also requires the removal of very small amounts of the tooth. Metal also crowns withstand high chewing and biting pressures without breaking. However, their main drawback is the color. Therefore, they are not a good choice for front teeth.
- Porcelain-fused-to-metal: PFM crowns are attached with the color of the successive tooth crown. They have perfect aesthetics and are best preferred for visible front teeth. However, the metal under the porcelain cap sometimes shows a dark line, which is not very pleasant. Other cons include the possibility of the porcelain breaking or chipping and the crown causing wear-down on the opposite teeth. PFM crowns are a good option for front and back teeth.
- All-resin: Whole resin crowns are an excellent option because they are less costly than other materials. Nonetheless, they wear down a lot faster and can easily break compared to PFM crowns.
- Ceramic/Porcelain: Porcelain crowns have an unmatched providence of the natural tooth color. They are also a perfect choice for people with metal allergies. However, all-porcelain crowns are not as strong as PFM and metal crowns. Additionally, they can wear down the tooth in the opposite jaw more than resin and metal crowns. They are the best choice for front teeth.
Onlays and ¾ Crowns
The dentist near you issues Onlays and ¾ dental crowns when they do not want to cover much of the underlying tooth, like with traditional crowns – which cover the entire tooth.
They are most appropriate when you have a robust tooth structure. We consider it as a more conservative tooth crown treatment approach than the full crown coverage. In their procedure, the dentist in Jamaica Plain only removes the affected tooth area and reshapes the tooth receiving the crown.
How Long Do Artificial Crowns Last?
Dental crowns averagely last for 5 – 15 years. The life span of the crown is affected by the amount of exposure to wear and tear. It’s also altered by if you follow the recommended oral hygiene practices and individual-mouth related habits such as:
- Tooth grinding and clenching
- Chewing ice and hard foreign substances
- Biting your fingernails
- Opening packaging seals using your teeth
Although artificial tooth crowns do not require any special care, you must protect the underlying tooth from decay and gum disorders. Therefore, you must follow regular oral hygiene like daily brushing and flossing, mainly in the area where the crown touches your tooth. Also, do not bite on hard substances to prevent cracking the porcelain.