When a tooth has a cavity your dentist removes it and places a filling in place of the decayed area. But there are severe cavities that leave your tooth unprotect and shapeless after the removal of the cavity. Dental crowns serve the purpose of restoring your teeth like a cap or cover.
If you are worried about how it will look, don’t worry! Dental crowns restore your smile and appearance as they can be made in a color close to your natural teeth. You don’t need to worry about any special care for the crowns as they are typically fine with regular oral care.
What are Dental Crowns?
Dental crowns are like covers or caps cemented on your tooth. It protects your tooth better than a dental filling. While still having a filling your tooth can start to decay, whereas the dental crowns are protective. Sometimes during the removal of the cavity, your tooth will lose its shape, which affects both the appearance of your tooth and its sole purpose to help you in chewing food. To restore your tooth, a dental crown is a possible solution as it can be shaped, sized, and colored like your natural teeth. It is stronger than filling and protects your tooth from bacteria.
When do I Need a Teeth Crown?
There are several reasons why you might need a dental crown; such as:
- Restore your smile and appearance
- Protect a weak tooth from further damage and cracks
- If you have the dental bridge placed give it the support
- Restore the shape of your natural tooth
- Restore a broken tooth
- Cover and protect large fillings that are prone to cavities.
- Restore the natural color of your tooth
- Covers a dental implant.
- Covers a tooth after a root canal.
What are Some Types of Crowns?
There are a few different types of dental crowns. Traditional crowns cover your entire tooth, unlike ¾ crowns and onlays crowns. Onlays and ¾ crowns are good if your tooth still has a solid structure.
There are several materials used to make a crown; such as metal, all-resin, all-ceramic, and all-porcelain.
- Metal crowns are made of nickel, gold, chromium, and palladium. They don’t usually break or chip and last long. Your dentist needs to remove a small amount of tooth to place these. The only drawback of these materials is the color, otherwise it is one of the strongest crowns.
- All-resin crowns are an inexpensive choice as compared to other dental crowns. These crowns can break more easily than crowns made from other materials.
- To maintain a more natural appearance of your tooth all-ceramic or all-porcelain crowns are used. If you are allergic to metal, it could be the best choice for you. They can sometimes damage the opposite tooth even more than resin or metal crowns. For front teeth, an all-ceramic crown is a good choice.
- The crowns with a hard inner core are pressed ceramic. They are capped with porcelain to give a natural appearance to your teeth. They are long-lasting as compared to an all-porcelain crown.
- You can use the porcelain-fused-to-metal as it can match the natural color of your teeth. But a dark color of metal shows off from the porcelain cap. A part or portion of the porcelain can break or chip. But it is a good choice for front and back teeth. The porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns are stronger than all-ceramic or all-porcelain crowns.
