The website, WebMD, has a feature on dental crowns, explaining how they are installed, and why they’re used by dentists. Typically made from porcelain, ceramic, or gold, crowns are designed to fit over teeth (hence the term “crown”) and protect the part from further damage. The article expounds more on the function and nature of crowns:
Why It Is Done
A crown is used to:
- Treat teeth that have broken or decayed so much that your dentist cannot fix them with a filling.
- Cover a tooth that is so severely damaged that most of the top part had to be removed.
- Repair a defective filling.
- Improve how a tooth looks.
Dentists sometimes use crowns after root canal treatment to seal the tooth and prevent it from breaking.
How Well It Works
A crown will work just like a healthy tooth.
Crowns sometimes come loose over time, and you may need to get them cemented again or replaced.
Crowns can help restore the natural look of teeth after they’ve been ravaged by decay. There are many ways to produce crowns depending on the dentist performing the procedure. Thus, Wilkes Barre, PA residents will have to carefully choose a dentist in Wilkes Barre who can professionally create a crown that looks natural and lasts long.
Some patients might be wondering why they should use crowns when they can use veneers, which also serve the same function of covering teeth. Veneers serve a purely aesthetic function; crowns, on the other hand, offer a more permanent replacement to badly damaged teeth. They also provide strength for the remaining tooth structure they overlap. It helps that crowns can also be used in conjunction with other dental devices, such as dental implants.
Typically, the creation and fitting of crowns takes two visits to the dentist. However, a revolutionary new method using CAD hardware, called CEREC, can produce crowns within a single day. The procedure involves making a 3D model of the patient’s teeth, and then recreating natural-looking pieces using a crafting device. Patients interested in such a procedure should refer to a state-of-the-art dentist in Wilkes Barre, PA like Dr. James C. DeFinnis, DMD of the Back Mountain Dental office, who offers this kind of service.
