Dental Crowns
A crown is a dental restoration that covers your entire tooth. While
fillings just fill cavities and fit inside your tooth, a dental crown will
cover the entire tooth and will replace the entire chewing surface of the
tooth. Some people call this a "cap."
Why dental crowns are needed:
A crown is placed to prevent a tooth from breaking. As we get older, we
are more prone to breaking teeth. If a tooth has a large filling, it is
more prone to cracking or breaking. A crown, especially if it has metal in
it, will help protect a tooth against breaking. Some people can break back
teeth even if they have small fillings or no fillings in the tooth—their
occlusion is that powerful.
Types of dental crowns:
| These are supposed to last for many years. If you have a
large filling instead of a dental crown for your tooth, the filling may
break down in a couple of years. Your tooth could also break, become
infected, and then require a root canal treatment. Sometimes, when a tooth
breaks, it becomes non-restorable. Here is a cut-away
diagram to show you how a dental crown covers the entire tooth. The
tooth is shaved down, and the crown is cemented over the top of it,
thus protecting it. This one is made of all porcelain, though they
can be porcelain fused to metal, or all metal.
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The metal that is preferred for dental crowns is gold. When they are
made of porcelain fused to metal, the underlying metal is often an alloy
containing either gold, palladium, or platinum, or a combination of these.
When the crown is a metal crown, gold is used for three reasons.
First, it is a very workable metal. It can be burnished tightly to the
tooth, and nothing fits better to the tooth.
Second, it can be cast very accurately. Margins can be made very thin
if necessary, and will meet the teeth precisely.
Third, it will not corrode. For these reasons, dental crowns made of
gold can last for many years. They are a protection for your teeth and can
help insure that you keep your teeth for all your life.
Many cheaper materials used for crowns have nickel in
them and will provoke a metal allergy.
Read Dr. Hall's blog posts about
dental crowns, where he
answers questions from visitors.
