CROWNS are used to protect broken down teeth. They can strengthen and allow you to use your teeth in the long term if properly maintained.
If a tooth has big fillings or they have cracks in them, a crown might be a good choice if you want to keep the functional benefits of your tooth intact.
CRACKED TEETH are a huge concern for many people! This can happen especially when we exceed the physical forces that our teeth are able to withstand. Needless to say, this is NOT normal - typically, this will happen when we clench or grind our teeth.
Most of the time, we are able to save the tooth before the cracks becomes too deep. If the crack goes down the root or into your nerve, there is usually little your dentist can do. Things like the split tooth or the vertically fractured tooth as shown in the picture above are usually unsavageable. Please visit us for an assessment of your tooth if you think you might have a cracked tooth! Things to look out for is pain on biting and sensitivity to cold or hot.
The CROWN PROCEDURE usually involves preparation and some slight shaving of the tooth carefully, so that we are able to make sure there is enough space for a crown to be made. After this, we make you a temporary crown so you can try it out and have something to protect your tooth in the mean time while your definitive restoration is being made in the laboratory. Our doctors like to use high quality materials like semi-precious or precious alloy crowns for a good long term, functional result. For some people who grind or put a lot of force onto their teeth, we recommend softer, more ductile metals like gold. It is gentler on your opposing tooth and wont break like other materials in the long term.
Sometimes, if aesthetics are a concern, we can use high strength ceramic crowns which are white in colour and contain no metal. This allows us to emulate the natural colours and translucency of your teeth quite closely. In this case, we will adhesively bond your crown to your tooth ensuring that it wont fall out or discolour over time. Most importantly, no one will know and neither will anyone be able to tell that you have had dental work done!
With ceramics, we are able to be more conservative and save MORE tooth structure compared to traditional crowns. In this case, it is called a partial crown or an onlay. Ask any of our professional dentists at Shuang Dentistry how we can protect your tooth with adhesively bonded restorations.
In addition to aesthetic restorations we also do smile makeovers and veneers to refresh your smile! Ask our dentist about a smile evaluation when you come in for a consultation
