Crowns and Bridges
What is a Crown?
A crown is a dental restoration which fits over the entire tooth. A crown provides circumferential protection that reinforces your tooth and holds it together. Crowns are generally made out of porcelain, ceramic or gold or a combination.
Once in place it resembles the look of a tooth. It strengthens a tooth and can be used to improve the aesthetics.
When is a Crown required?
Reinforcement
There are many structural instances where a crown may be required such as:
- Replacing a large filling when there is insufficient tooth remaining
- Repairing a fractured tooth
- Protecting a cracked and weakened tooth from fracturing
- Protecting a tooth which has had root canal therapy
Symptoms & Pain
Cracked teeth can often be painful to bite on. This is a condition called cracked tooth syndrome.
If you have a tooth which is painful to eat or bite on, a crown can prevent cracks from worsening, reducing symptoms and ultimately preventing you from losing the tooth.
Aesthetics
Like a veneer, we can use a crown to manipulate the shape, colour and alignment of teeth. At times a crown is required instead of veneer to achieve certain aesthetics.
When you have a missing tooth, we can use a crown on either side of the gap to hold a replacement tooth. This is a bridge. A bridge is a good way of replacing a missing tooth if the teeth on either side are strong enough and if you aren’t a good candidate for dental implants or a removable partial denture.
Crown and bridge work requires two visits separated by two weeks. The first appointment is the preparation stage where we prepare the tooth. This involves reducing the tooth down so there is enough room for the crown to slip over the top. We take a silicone impression of this and send it to our laboratory. In the meantime, you have a temporary crown to protect the tooth while your final crown is being prepared. At the insert appointment we remove the temporary crown and place the final crown with a strong cement or bonding agent.
Schedule Your Visit
If you’re wondering if crowns or bridges are right for your smile, we’d love to help you decide and learn more about your oral health needs.
Contact our team today to book your first appointment—we look forward to meeting you.
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