What Is a Dental Crown?
You can look at a dental crown like at an armor that covers your tooth. It is one of the methods that a dentist can use to solve certain dental problems that you may have. These problems can be grouped into two categories.
Health problems, those that will cause pain or have other effects on the rest of your health.
Aesthetic problems, those that affect the image of your smile. So, both an emergency and a cosmetic dentist can use crowns as solutions for different problems.
Keep in mind that the goal of a dentist should not only be to take care of your oral health, but to also take care of your smile. He must make sure that your mouth is always healthy and that your smile is as beautiful as possible. Of course, it mostly depends on how much you value your smile.
For What Problems Will Your Dentist Use a Dental Crown?
But you may wonder, what are the exact uses of a dental crown? Below you will find all the problems that may be solved by your dentist Los Angeles with a crown.
Dental Health Problems
- Big cavity. The most encountered solution for cavities is a filling but sometimes, when the cavity is too large, a filling is not good enough. In such situations, a crown can be used to cover the tooth and protect it much better than the filling.
- Cracked. In most cases, the used method for this problem would be dental veneers. But if the tooth is too damaged or has a big chip, then veneers may not be able to completely ensure its protection. In such cases, the use of crowns is preferred.
- Root canal treatment. After a root canal treatment, there will be a relatively big hole in your tooth. To cover that hole and protect the tooth from another infection the best method is to cover it with a dental crown.
Aesthetic Problems
Firstly, all the problems mentioned above will also affect the image of your smile negatively, thus certain crowns can be used for multiple purposes at the same time.
Protecting your dental health as well as giving your smile an appealing image. Besides the cases presented above there are more cases when a crown can be used in aesthetic purposes:
- Discolored. If one of your teeth is discolored, then it will negatively affect your image, thus a crown can be used to make sure that all your teeth have the same color, thus maintaining the beauty of your smile.
- Short. If one of your teeth is much shorter than your other teeth, then it is obvious that it will make your smile look funny and much less attractive. Most of the time it will be too short for veneers, making a crown the best solution for this problem.
- Weird. Sometimes, for different reasons, a tooth may have a very weird shape. It may not affect your health but it will ruin your smile. Most of the time this problem is solved through enamel shaping, but in certain situations, there is the need for using a crown to solve this problem.
What Are the Two Main Types of Dental Crown!
Now that you understand what is a dental crown and what uses it has, we want to present you with the most common two types of crowns. The main difference between them is the material from which they are made.
- Metal. In terms of usability, metal crowns are the best choice that you can make. Due to their resilience, they have much less of a problem in biting and chewing harder types of food. This resilience comes from the material from which they are made. The most common ones are made from gold and nickel, but a metal crown can be made from other metals as well. Another advantage that these crowns present is the amount of preparation work that is needed. More exactly, a dentist needs to reshape the tooth much less than other types of crowns. Unfortunately, the aesthetics of this type of crowns present a big problem, thus they can’t be used for any from a tooth without damaging the image of your smile.
- Ceramic. This type of crown is the exact opposite of the metallic ones. They can offer the same natural look to your smile that you had before. This ability is due to the possibility of selecting the same color that your other teeth have. On the other hand, their resiliency and durability are lower than their metallic versions. This does not mean that it will break immediately if you take good care of a ceramic crown you will be able to use it for more than five years without the need for recementing or changing it. But compared to that, the metallic crowns can be used up to 20 years with proper care.
Keep in mind that you also have the option of using a crown that combines these two possibilities, but in our opinion, they are an average option because they do not have the same level of advantages in the aesthetic section, nor are they as resilient as the full metallic crowns.
Thus our suggestion is to use a metallic crown for the teeth that are not visible in a smile and ceramic ones for those that are visible. If you want to see more varieties, then you can check some more here.
The Procedure Used by a Cosmetic Dentist Explained!
The procedure used by a Cosmetic Dentist is not a very complex one and it does not require more than two sessions. It is separated into two sessions because it is impossible to finish in one session. This impossibility comes from the fact that your crown will be personalized for your tooth, thus it can’t be made on the spot.
In the first session, three main things will happen. Your dentist will reshape your tooth, it will take the required measurements for your new crown and he will give you a temporary one that will be temporarily cemented.
In the second section, the process can be said to be even simpler. Your temporary crown is taken out and it is replaced with the permanent one. This time, the cement used by the dentist will be a permanent one, thus making sure that your crown will stay fixed for many years.
About The Author:
Alan Jordinson writes professional content for Larchmontdentists.com. Larchmont Dental Associates is a professional dentistry team dedicated to patients’ health. Innovation is key, so the team aims to deliver the latest and best dental services for its patients.
