Getting a Dental Crown? Read This First!
Tooth damage can happen to anyone, even to those who brush and floss regularly and visit the dentist every six months.
While tooth decay is often the culprit for most people, accidents also do their fair share of tooth damage, with impacts causing cracked or broken teeth.
Fortunately for us, modern dentistry has given us dental crowns, an incredibly effective way to hide a damaged or decaying tooth from view.
If you’re thinking about getting dental crowns, you might want to read the following first:
Do You Need Dental Crowns?
Aside from hiding visibly damaged or decaying teeth, the following are also legitimate reasons to have dental crowns installed:
- Coverage for a filling-covered tooth
- Protection for dental implants
- Restoring a tooth that’s gone through a root canal
- Covering discolored or misshapen teeth
- Holding a dental bridge in place
Dental Crowns Do More Than Cover Damaged Teeth
For many people, dental crowns are primarily for covering damaged teeth.
Dental crowns, however, are so much more than that.
On top of keeping a damaged tooth from sight, a dental crown can also help make it stronger, improve its alignment, and restore its shape.
The Main Difference Between Dental Crowns and Veneers
There are several similarities between dental crowns and cosmetic dental veneers.
Both are popular and effective ways of covering damaged or decayed teeth.
Both also improve the function of your teeth.
When installing crowns or veneers, your dentist may need to file or ground down the decayed tooth as preparation for placement.
However, there is a major difference between the two: veneers cover only your tooth’s front surface, as you can see in this dental veneers smile gallery. A dental crown, on the other hand, covers the entire tooth.
Your Choice of Dental Crown Materials
It’s a great time to be getting dental crowns, if only for the fact that you have a wide variety of materials to choose from, including:
- Porcelain fused to metal–Produced by bonding porcelain to a precious metal base, this material used to be popular, but many people complain about the visible dark gray line around them due to the metal substructure. This type of crown also tends to fail where the two materials meet, with porcelain fracturing off.
- Porcelain–Porcelain crowns are bonded, which gives them their strength. Porcelain crowns such as the material emax (lithium disilicate) are just as strong as other options and have the advantage of esthetics.
- Metals–Withstands wear and tear best but are often used only for out-of-sight molars due to their metallic color.
- Zirconia– Zirconia has the best strength of the ceramics, but some esthetics can be compromised, mainly because of its opaque appearance, which makes it look less natural.
Whatever type of dental crown material you go for, you can be sure that our in-house dental lab can finish creating your crowns while you wait.
The Lifespan of A Dental Crown
Another great thing about dental crowns is that they are built to last long.
Most crowns will last 10 to 15 years, but it will all depend on how well you’re taking care of your oral health.
If you don’t stay on top of your dental hygiene, your dental crown may not even last 10 years.
Conversely, if the level of dental care you’re getting is high, your dental crown stands a chance of lasting even longer than 15 years. It’s not unheard of people to have the same dental crown for 20 years or more, although the type of material does play a role in its longevity.
Taking Care of Your Dental Crowns
Regular brushing and flossing are crucial to the care of dental crowns, but there are other things you need to do once your dental crowns are in place to ensure that they last for a long time.
For one, you need to avoid certain types of food, including hard ones like peanut brittle and sticky food like caramel or chewing gum, as they could move or even dislodge the crown.
For another, you should do your best to kick bad habits like using your teeth to open packages or even bottles because they are sure-fire ways of damaging not only your dental crowns but also the teeth that they’re covering.
If you’re one of the many people who grind and clench their teeth while sleeping, wearing a nightguard to bed offers your crowns the kind of protection it will need.
Most importantly, visit your dentist regularly.
If you’re considering getting dental crowns and you’re in the Scottsdale area, please drop by at Dental Studio 101 and check out what we have to offer. We have some of the best cosmetic dentists in Scottsdale on our team, and we can assure you that you’ll get the dental crowns that are perfect for your needs.