Types of Dental Crowns and Their Advantages

Dental crowns have, for long been a solution to many tooth problems. Using a crown, the dentist in Culver City, CA, can treat several dental problems, including tooth decay, crooked teeth, discoloured teeth, misshapen teeth and other cosmetic issues involving teeth.

This article will enlighten you on the various dental crown types and what a dental crown procedure involves.

What is a Dental Crown?

If it’s the first time to hear about it, this will be a real question of interest. Think of a dental crown as a cap, attached to your teeth, and fitted on the top of a damaged tooth to protect it from further damage.

Crowns can be made to match your natural teeth’ colour, or if you don’t mind, you can get a gold-coloured crown with less aesthetics.

Who needs a Dental Crown?

When visiting a dentist near you for treatment, the dentist will thoroughly examine you for various dental crown problems. They will guide you to other possible treatment if a crown is not the best option.

Generally, the most common problems why people get dental crowns include:

• To treat tooth damage severely by dental decay
• When covering an implant
• To replace a dislodged large filling
• Treating a damaged or cracked natural tooth
• Covering a tooth after a root canal procedure – mostly back teeth
• To alight a bite
• For cosmetic purposes – You can use a dental crown to adjust the size, shape and teeth’ colour to achieve a more beautiful smile.

Dental Crown Procedure

If you require a custom-made crown, you will need several visits to a dental office. Constructing a crown can’t just be done in one a single appointment unless your hygienist has a CEREC® device, which allows patients to walk home with a crown on the same day.

The process is, however, different for various types of crowns. Generally, the dental crown procedure involves the following:

• First is the preparation of the tooth on which the crown is to be placed. This can involve removal of decay or preparation after a root canal.
• S/he makes a mould of the upper tooth so that the artificial crown will have a perfect fit.
• A temporary restoration is then issued to protect the tooth while the crown is prepared. The temporary cap should be well taken care of to avoid damaging it. It’s advisable not to eat sticky and hard foods.
• Your crown will be ready in about a week.

5 Main Types of Dental Crowns

When classified according to the material used, a dental crown is of 5 types.

Gold Crowns

This type of crown uses an alloy of copper and other materials like nickel land chromium. They have the advantage of strength and durability.

The dentist Culver City, recommends gold crowns mostly for back teeth. Today, they are not a very popular option, though, due to their aesthetics. Advantages include:

• Strong and highly durable
• They can last a lifetime if well maintained
• Only a small portion of your tooth is removed
• Ideal for back teeth restoration

All Porcelain Crowns

Porcelain is the most popular type of dental crown, the dentist near you uses. Some advantages include:

• Porcelain provides the most natural look of all materials. They can match the surrounding teeth in size, shape and colour.
• They are the best option for restoring damaged teeth
• Porcelain is biocompatible. No-metal is used, so the crowns are toxic-free.

However, porcelain is not as strong as metal. They are also costlier than metal crowns.

Porcelain Fused-to-Metal (PFM)

PFM crowns are also among the most popular types of crowns. They combine the advantages of metal and porcelain crown in one. Due to their metal structure, these crowns have both the strength and aesthetics.

Their main advantages include:

• They offer both strength, durability and aesthetics
• They are a sure treatment as they existed for about 50 years
• They cost less than all-porcelain crowns

We can’t say it’s a significant downside, but PFM crown may produce a grey line at the gum line, so the aesthetics are not as complete as with all-porcelain crowns.

Zirconia Crowns

This is a new material that combines the aesthetics of porcelain and the strength of metal crowns. They have become a major option lately.

Advantages include:

• They have great aesthetics
• Strong and durable
• The application process is fast and straightforward
• They are biocompatible as they don’t contain any metal elements

Lithium-Disilicate Crowns

It’s the newest type of dental crown, also called E-Max. It’s an all-ceramic crown with lithium disilicate as the primary material.

Advantages include:

• Have great aesthetics
• They are durable and strong
• A great choice both for front and back teeth.

Their main disadvantage is they are costly, especially to the dentist 90230. He may or may not choose to transfer the cost to you.