What are Dental Crowns?
When a tooth is badly weakened by decay or other damage, a crown may be needed.
A crown acts like a cap or cover to protect a tooth from further damage and breakage. Crowns may be tooth-colored, or made of gold, as shown here. Tooth-colored crowns look very natural, but they can crack or break like a natural tooth. Dr. Venincasa can determine the relative risk of having one of these tooth-colored crowns.
For the very back teeth, Dr. Venincasa recommends gold crowns. While they are not natural-looking, these crowns are very strong and do not crack or break. Gold crowns can last a lifetime, and are not even visible because of their location.
CEREC Single-Visit Crowns
Ceramic reconstruction, or CEREC, is a type of crown that can be provided in a single visit to our office.
The procedure usually takes about two hours. This eliminates the need for a temporary crown, which can fall out, and reduces the number of visits the patient must make.
Dr. Venincasa is proud to be one of the few dentists in the Dallas / Fort Worth area to offer CEREC crowns.
Natural Colored Crowns
Tooth-colored crowns can look very natural and be beautiful. However, to keep these crowns looking their very best, there is some special care required.
We do recommend that patients maintain their preventive visits at least every six months. We also recommend that patients wear a night guard if we note they have more excessive wear on their natural teeth. Prevention is key to having these tooth colored crowns for a long time.
As with natural teeth, tooth-colored crowns may crack or break. Care must be taken to prevent this kind of damage to these crowns. If we believe there is excessive force on a certain tooth, we may recommend a gold crown instead.
Gold Crowns
For patients who have evidence of heavy force applied to the molars, we recommend gold crowns.
Gold crowns are the strongest in dentistry. They will not break, crack, or chip. Gold crowns will hold up to heavy occlusal forces.
Some patients decline gold crowns, because of their unnatural appearance. We do honor requests not to place these gold crowns, thus placing tooth colored crowns instead. Dr. Venincasa will fully inform you of the advantages and disadvantages of each type of crown, to help you make the best choice.
Crowns for Smiling
There are times when crowns simply start to look poorly because of changes with the teeth and the gums.
In the case shown here, the gums had receded and the tooth root surfaces became exposed.
As a result, over time the root surfaces had decayed and decalcified. This dramatically and adversely affected this patient’s smile.
By replacing the crowns, the root surfaces could be treated and covered. This resulted in a more pleasing cosmetic result.
Dr. Venincasa can help you decide the best options for crowns to improve your smile. Please give us a call today to learn more.
