Dear Dr. Hall,
I have an old crown in a front tooth. I visited a cosmetic dentist who works as an associate of a very famous cosmetic dentist in my area. He said he won’t know if he can do an all porcelain crown or a porcelain fused to metal crown until he removes my current crown. He also mentioned that even if he has to use a porcelain fused to metal crown, he will be able to add several layers of porcelain to make sure the metal won’t be shown or leave a shadow thorugh my gum.
Can I, as a patient, request that my crown be all porcelain or all ceramic? or should I let my cosmetic dentist pick the most appropriate for me?. I was initially going to have my general dentist have the crown done, but decided to go to a cosmetic dentist after exhaustively reading your website. Thank you for taking the time and effort to reply to our e-mails. Your website is so helpful! Margarita
Margarita,
First, no I think it’s a big mistake for you to try to push a dentist into any type of crown that he or she doesn’t recommend. Dentists that are comfortable doing all-porcelain crowns will by far prefer them on front teeth, provided they have a strong esthetic sense.
Please forgive me if am missing something, but I can’t imagine any reason this dentist would need to take your existing crown off before being able to tell you if he can do an all-porcelain crown on your front tooth. I haven’t met a front tooth that I couldn’t do an all-porcelain crown on. And no matter how much porcelain he layers over the metal, he can’t make the metal translucent – it’s still porcelain fused to metal. Is this guy trying to pull the wool over your eyes? What makes you think he is a cosmetic dentist? And being “famous” isn’t a credential for cosmetic dentistry.
I recommend you get a second opinion from someone better – someone who loves doing all porcelain crowns. Is there anyone on our recommended list who is close enough to you that you could go see them for this crown?
Especially if it is ONE front tooth – you need a real artist to get it matched right, and it needs to be all porcelain.
– Dr. Hall
Read more about porcelain crowns for front teeth.
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About David A. Hall
Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.