What is a Crown?
A dental crown is a tooth-like cap that is placed over your tooth to protect it from further decay or damage and restores its beuaty and function. If you have a root canal treatment, a crown may be needed. If you are missing a tooth, two crowns can be connected and “bridge” the teeth together.
Why do I need a Crown?
You may need a crown if you have:
- a cavity that is too large for a filling
- a tooth that is cracked, worn down, or otherwise weakened
- had a root canal treatment-crown will protect the restored tooth
- or want to cover a discolored or badly shaped tooth and improve your smile
Why would I want a CEREC® Crown?
- It takes just one visit from start to finish!
- You avoid sticky, gagging putty impressions and a temporary crown
- No metal “gray” color showing below the crown
- No waiting while an outside lab creates the crown from putty impression
- Saves you a second visit for crown placement
Apex Dental Group Uses Cerec Digital Technology for Restoration
What are the goals of getting a CEREC® Crown?
- Protect a tooth following root canal therapy
- Cover damaged teeth due to severe cracks and or decay
- Restore or improve your natural smile
- Make chewing and eating more comfortable
- Prevent teeth from drifting and ruing your bite
What should I expect during my CEREC® procedure?
- Decay is removed from the tooth, then shaped to provide room for the crown
- Using state-of-the-art CEREC technology, the doctor makes a 3D image of your tooth
- Your new crown is milled in our office using a 3D printer
- The crown is then cemented into place. All in the same day!
What are my options instead of a crown?
Do nothing, this option increases your chances of further tooth loss and increased cost and time
Although rare, not everyone is a candidate for a CEREC crown.
- We still need to create a 3D image of your tooth
- A dental lab creates the crown using gold, metal, or porcelain
- We protect your tooth with a temporary crown
- Once the crown is ready, you return to have it cemented
An onlay (partial crown) may be used to cover the weak portion and hold the tooth together.
Ask Dr. Kitzmiller!
Tooth extraction (removal) if the tooth is badly damaged.
Types of Materials Used in Crowns
We will help you select the right material for your crown especially selected for your mouth.
CEREC® (Crown-in-a-Day Technology)
- A CEREC restoration is fabricated from a ceramic block on our milling machine, right in our office.
- The dentist places the custom-fit restoration and cements the final crown that day!
- E-Max is one of the strongest all ceramic materials that we use. Nothing but the best.
- Porcelain crowns are tooth-colored and look more natural than metal crowns.
- They do not show metal beneath the crown, but don’t hide badly discolored teeth.
- Newer Zirconia crowns
resist breakage and are good replacement for gold crowns.
They can hide most of a badly discolored tooth.
Porcelain Crown Fused to a Metal Base (PFM)
- These types of crowns are tooth-colored and look natural.
- Porcelain fused crowns will easily hide severely discolored
teeth. - They are a very strong and durable type of crown.
- The edges of the crowns may show darker metal coloring at the gum line.
- They are being replaced by stronger all porcelain crowns like E-Max which we use here.
- All metal crowns are more conservative for the tooth/ nerve.
- These crowns can be used in the back where they are not seen.
- Metal crowns will not break or fracture like a tooth colored crown.
- People who grind or brux are candidates for a metal crown.
Visit our Patient Education Center under the Topic “Restoring Teeth” and remember to look at related treatments on the Cosmetic Treatments page.