Today I wanted to share something pretty “royal” and that would be a dental crown. You may need a crown for multiple reasons. You may have a broken tooth and more than 50% of the tooth structure is missing. You may have a large restoration, either a mercury restoration or a white composite restoration that takes more than 50% of the tooth structure. You may have had a root canal on a tooth and a root canal causes the tooth to be more brittle and break more easily, and so we put a crown on teeth like that. You may also elect to have a crown for aesthetic reasons.
The process for when we do a crown is we actually remove any decay or old restorations that are part of the tooth, and we rebuild the tooth. After that, we take about a half millimeter of tooth structure away all the way around the tooth, so that there’s room for the crown. After that tooth structure is removed, we do a digital scan of your tooth and we email that to our lab where they can fabricate your crown custom for your tooth. Temporary is then placed on the tooth and that helps prevent sensitivity and movement in the teeth. When we receive the crown, we try it in, we take an x-ray to confirm the margins.
Then we will prepare the tooth for the bonding of the crown. And then we place the crown on the tooth with a special bonding material that bonds the material of the tooth to the actual crown. Whether you are restoring a damaged tooth or finishing up a root canal, a crown can help you chew confidently and smile brighter. If you think you might need one or just to learn more, come see us at Rowland Family Dentistry. We’ll make sure your smile stays healthy, strong, and looking great!