Dental crowns are a dental restoration process used to cover a damaged or decayed tooth after a root canal procedure. After a dentist has thoroughly cleaned the teeth, he or she will safely remove the decayed or damaged area of the tooth. The space left will be filled using a restorative material such as a filling or a dental crown. What is the actual placement of the crown? How is it made and what material is needed for the crown?
The whole process of making the crown can be divided into several steps. During the process, the dentist must select an appropriate material that will best suit the patient’s needs. This selection is based on the patient’s preference, the dentist’s qualification, and the type of restoration that is desired. The dentist must then carefully create the crown in a dental laboratory. He or she must consider several factors when choosing the right material:
· Materials – the combination of metals needed to make the crown must be capable of achieving the right results. It is important to note that various metal alloys have been used for centuries as a dental restoration solution.
· Placement – The actual placement of the crown is accomplished by drilling a tiny hole in the decayed tooth. The dentist will then take an impression of the tooth as it is. The formed crown is then fixed on the damaged tooth with a special dental adhesive.
· Restoration – The final crown is carefully placed over the cracked tooth. Depending on the intensity of the cracked tooth, the dentist will either place a crown that protects the inner portion of the tooth or place the crown in a way that a normal tooth can be restored with ease.
Dental crowns are generally used in cases that require protection from decay. They are often placed on the surfaces of teeth that have received extensive decay and in between teeth that have not been extensively treated. Crowns are also commonly used to hold a dental bridge in place. Moreover, crowns that have been specially designed to match a person’s oral coloring or those that are fitted on top of an existing tooth can greatly help restore the beauty of one’s smile.
This type of crown is usually designed to withstand normal chewing loads. It can only be used if the surface texture and the biting pressure felt normal while eating is similar to that of the normal tooth. As expected, a crown will greatly help in strengthening a tooth that has been restored.
There are two common types of dental crowns:
· Traditional metal crowns
· Porcelain-fused metal crowns
Both the traditional metal crown and porcelain-fused metal crowns are durable and can withstand, they are designed to last for years and years.
However, before choosing a dental crown, be sure to ask your dentist about the advantages and disadvantages of each of them. After you have settled on one, be sure to follow proper care to prevent them from discoloring.
While most people are now familiar with the use of white fillings on cavities, many people are unaware of their availability on crowns. A white filling is available through a crown procedure. The fillings used on most dental restorations are metals, compounds, or porcelain materials. Because white fillings are made of resin-like materials that become malleable when heat is applied to them, they can be easily molded to form a natural-looking tooth. Their composition also changes slightly depending on the color of the tooth that it is applied to, causing the filling to appear more like the color of the natural tooth it is replacing. Under the right circumstances, white fillings have the ability to last more than thirty years.
Porcelain-fused metal crowns
A combination of bonded porous ceramic (PRecently) and metal is now becoming the overwhelming majority of restorative dental fillings. The vital combination of erosion and micro-leakage is the basis of this newly emerging cosmetic dentistry. The vital aspect of a properly designed and placed crown is that it must perfectly meet the requirements of a person’s oral health. To ensure this, cosmetic dentists must ensure that the forces acting on the tooth structure are at the right direction so as to avoid the buildup of complications such as caries.
Tooth-colored fillings have been available in dentistry for more than two decades and have gradually began to gain acceptance for a variety of reasons. As a result of their unique physical and chemical composition, they are well tolerated by the tooth and can serve as a successful restoration solution under the right circumstances. This can be seen in the crown’s ability to blend naturally with the remaining tooth structure, in its reduced bulk and, most of all, under the fixed smile which it offers.