Crowns
Thanks to modern dentistry, people are keeping their teeth longer, often for their whole lives. Over the years the restorations (fillings) on teeth will be replaced due to wear, fracture, recurring decay or endodontics (root canal) treatment. For whatever reason they are replaced, the "fillings" become larger so the teeth and their "fillings" become more brittle, or may even fracture. I often recommend crowns as the restoration of choice to protect these teeth from fracture and help keep them functioning longer than they might with just a "filling".
broken molar with large filling I successfully crowned Even today's bonding cannot protect heavily filled teeth from fracture and the heavy wear that occurs with large fillings, they just cannot stand up to the wear and tear of chewing when they get very large.
Crowns can be used to change the appearance of a tooth (or teeth if many are treated). Colour, shape size and position can be changed to give the desired appearance. Crowns can be fabricated from various materials, depending on the need for strength and/or esthetics and the patients desires. Gold, porcelain bonded to gold or all ceramic (porcelain) crowns are all quite common. All porcelain crowns are becoming very popular today.porcelain fuse to gold crown
Advantages
- Strong
- allow damaged teeth to last much longer
- aesthetic lifelike look
- long lasting
- protection from fracture
- can improve the colour of teeth
- can improve the shape and appearance of teeth
Disadvantages
- cost
- some additional tooth structure needs to be replace to allow for a naturally sized tooth
- porcelain can fracture if patient grinds their teeth
- porcealin can wear opposing teeth
- takes at least two appointments to fabricate
Crowns have been used by dentistry for decades but todays crowns offer better esthetics, durability and wear than ever. The techology behind making crowns is amazing and research continues as does the improvement in how we fabricate crowns.
See my blog for other discussions on crowns.