Categories: Dental Crowns and Dental Bridges

How Dental Crowns Are Used as a Dental Restoration

Placing a crown on a tooth requires making permanent alterations by removing enamel to create a better fit. The removed enamel cannot be restored in the future. The tooth will forever need a restoration to serve as its artificial enamel.

Restoring damaged teeth with dental crowns

Dental crowns can fix various types of tooth injuries like decay, fractures, breaks, and chips. They can also be used to address aesthetic issues like discoloration and deformities. Crowns restore the shape, size, and function of damaged teeth. They are designed to fully encase the damaged tooth, hold it together, protect it against irritants in the mouth, and protect it against bite forces.

Some of the more popular uses of dental crowns include:

Placed on implants to replace missing teeth
To restore worn-down teeth
To close abnormal spaces between teeth
To cover up stains, discoloration, and deformities on teeth
To protect teeth after root canal therapy
To restore broken teeth
As anchors for dental bridges
To protect severely decayed teeth
To shield fractured teeth from irritants in the mouth

The dental crown process

Getting a crown placed on a tooth often requires two trips to the dentist's office. The first visit involves evaluating the patient to determine whether a crown is the correct approach and preparing the tooth for a crown.

Once the patient has been cleared for a crown, the dentist starts the process by administering a local anesthetic to anesthetize the tooth being treated. Portions of enamel are moved from all sides to prepare the tooth for the crown. The patient is asked to bite a mold for an impression of the prepared tooth.

The impression is sent to technicians in a lab who make crowns from impressions. It typically takes about two weeks for the personalized restoration to get back to the dentist. A temporary crown is placed on the patient’s tooth to protect it while they wait.

The patient comes back for another appointment in about two weeks. The temporary crown comes off, and the customized crown is placed on the tooth. Alterations are made as needed before permanently cementing the restoration into place.