Ask the Dental Experts

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

All-Porcelain Crowns

New technology has made it possible for tooth-colored crowns to be all porcelain crowns. Previously, porcelain crowns had to be built around a metal core. This was the only way to make the crown strong enough to withstand biting and chewing forces. The problem with this was that the metal core created a dark blue line at the edge of many crowns.

This has all changed, thanks to breakthroughs in adhesives and the development of stronger porcelain materials that allow us to make crowns completely out of porcelain. This new material is completely translucent and almost impossible to distinguish from natural teeth.

All porcelain crowns eliminate the problem of the dark line at the edge of the gum. This allows us to place the edge of the crown above the gum line, which in turn is much better for your teeth and gums.

An all porcelain crown is usually the best corrective, cosmetic treatment option for you if any of the following is the case:

· Your tooth has experienced significant decay. There simply is not enough tooth structure remaining to support a cosmetic dental filling.
· A large part of the tooth has fractured and cannot be rebuilt using traditional composite resins.
· You have a large cavity and decide to go for the additional protection of a crown to prevent further tooth decay.
· You have had a dental implant, and an all porcelain crown provides you with a natural-looking tooth replacement.
· After a root canal, we may recommend a crown to strengthen your tooth.
· If you suffer from bruxism and have a poor diet, the acid erosion may have eroded your teeth to the point that all porcelain crowns are the only way to restore them.
· If any of the above conditions have made you self-conscious when you smile, all porcelain crowns can improve your appearance and restore your self confidence.

These cosmetic tooth restorations have to be custom made in a dental laboratory. That is why it takes more than one trip to our office to get them.

During the first consultation, we remove any decay and reshape the tooth surface. This is done with a special drill under the influence of local anesthesia that will make the procedure painless. Once we have reshaped the tooth to accommodate a dental crown, we then take impressions of your teeth using special dental putty. We send this mold of your mouth over to a dental lab, when then uses it as a guide to make your new all porcelain crowns. In the meantime, we fit your tooth or teeth with a temporary crown to protect them while we wait on the lab to finish its work.

When your crown is ready, we call you back to the office and remove the temporaries. We use a special etching solution to roughen the outer enamel of your teeth. This helps the crown better bond to its surface with dental cement. After trial fitting the crown to make sure all is in order, we permanently cement it in place.

All porcelain crowns should last at least 10 years if you take care of them properly.

Labels: all porcelain crowns, all-porcelain crowns, cosmetic dental crowns

Friday, February 19, 2010

Restoring a Large Cavity

When a tooth loses a large filling, the best way of restoring a large filling is to place a permanent crown over the tooth. Because the large cavity has already destroyed so much of the tooth, a filling alone will not be enough, generally, to give the tooth protection and strength.

Why is a filling not enough?
We are not saying it is not enough. Because we use cosmetic dental bonding resin, much can be done to fill in the cavity with a biofriendly material that is much better than silver mercury amalgam. However, there is a need to reshape the tooth and remove any decay that formed around the old cavity, and this is where we run into problems.

So much tooth matter gets lost in the cleaning and reshaping process that restoring a large cavity with even the best dental bonding resin may still not be enough. You see, the tooth must be able to handle normal biting and chewing pressure, and if only a thin shell of its outer surface has survived the decay and loss of a filling, there is no way we can provide this type of strength with a new filling alone.

The best course of action is to crown the tooth with a cosmetic tooth restoration of some kind. Normally, this is a porcelain crown.

What does the crown do for the tooth, then?
The crown first and foremost covers the tooth so that food debris cannot attach to its surface. This denies bacteria the opportunity to grow and form plaque. A crown’s hard surface can chew food like a normal tooth, and you can brush and floss it just like you can any other tooth.

The one thing you do have to be mindful of is the space between the edge of the ground and the gum. This is a very tiny space, but it is also a very dangerous space to ignore. It has to be brushed and flossed with extra care in order to keep bacteria from getting underneath the crown and attacking the tooth again.

How do you determine if a crown is the best way of restoring a large cavity?
We simply look at how big the cavity is and how much of your tooth is still standing. If it is clear to us that the tooth is not going to survive on its own, then it needs to be crowned.

We don’t just use guesswork or visual examination alone to determine this. We have all sorts of sophisticated equipment here at our office that can tell us the precise condition of your tooth and what it needs to be restored.

Labels: all porcelain crowns, dental tooth restoration, restoring a large cavity

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Porcelain Crowns Houston, TX

When you have a damaged tooth, you have two problems. One is a medical problem, and one is a personal problem. The medical problem is the possibility of severe tooth decay and subsequent tooth destruction. The personal problem is a tooth that looks bad when you smile. A porcelain crown can be a solution to both problems at once.

A porcelain crown is a precision-crafted cosmetic tooth enhancement that is made in a dental laboratory. It is custom made to fit the tooth in your mouth that needs repair work. Because it has to be made in this special laboratory, it will take at least two visits to the Cosmetic Dentistry Center to get you fitted with a porcelain crown.

The first visit to our office will involve checking out your damaged tooth and preparing it for a porcelain crown. Because we believe in making this process as painless as humanly possible, we begin by numbing the area around your tooth to make you feel comfortable.

We also put a rubber dam in the back of your mouth to protect your throat from dental debris that may fall backward into your mouth while we are working in it. This will protect your air passageway and esophagus.

We then remove all decayed matter from your tooth using a dental handpiece. At the same time, we will be shaping this tooth so it can securely hold your new dental crown. In order to enable the lab workers to make a porcelain crown that will match your tooth, we take an impression of your teeth that we then use to make a model of your mouth.

When we send this to the lab, the technicians there will have an exact replica of your mouth with which to work and be able to make a tooth enhancement that will match your bite and tooth size exactly.

This takes a week or two, and your tooth will need protection in the meantime. We provide this protection in the form of a temporary crown. Although it is only temporary, it is extremely important that you respect the crown and treat it with the utmost of care. Doing so will ensure the future success of your permanent crown.

When your porcelain crown comes back from the lab, we call you back for your second appointment. We will remove the temporary crown at this time and trial fit the permanent dental crown without cementing it in place. We do this to make certain that its top surface is flush with those of other teeth and that it lines up correctly with other teeth.

Once it checks out we either bond or cement it in place.

You can expect many benefits from a porcelain crown that include the following:

Strength and durability
Beauty and life-like imitation of real teeth
Better for gums because natural looking porcelain does not have to be hidden beneath the gumline

Labels: all porcelain crowns, cosmetic dental crowns, dental porcelain crowns

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

All Porcelain Crowns

Better adhesives and superior methods of manufacture now make it possible to create all porcelain crowns. Until recently, crowns were made of a combination of porcelain and metal. It was necessary to make them this way in order to allow them to withstand the force of biting and chewing. Crowns were built around a metal core that would unfortunately be visible as a thin blue line at the base of the crown.

In the beginning, most people accepted this. They were happy to have a crown that looked like a natural tooth—even though the obtrusive presence of the metal was visible anytime they smiled. In time, however, society developed higher expectations for beauty and cosmetics, and people became unsatisfied with the blue lines in their crowns. What bothered many people even more was the tendency over time for the gums to turn black at the bases of tooth crowns.

New technology evolved that makes all porcelain crowns a much better choice. They have a naturally translucent quality that makes them almost impossible to distinguish from natural teeth. Without metal, there is no thin blue line, and there is no black line at the base of the gums. Even better, all porcelain crowns are healthier for your gums, because they are actually set above the gum line.

Two types of all porcelain crowns are used by dentist: bonded and extra strength.

Dentists use bonded all porcelain crowns on the front teeth because they are thinner. While they are not as strong as extra strength crowns, they work very well on the front teeth which experience less pressure during chewing than the back teeth. Furthermore, the way the porcelain is bonded to teeth adds strength to its form and substance. If this sounds like something you might want to consider, we recommend that you schedule an appointment with the Cosmetic Dentistry Center. This is because most schools of general dentistry do not normally train their graduates in the special techniques needed to place these crowns.

The back teeth require extra strength porcelain crown that can withstand the full impact of chewing. These are made from new types of advanced ceramics that do not require a bonding agent to adhere them to tooth surfaces. While there is no metal core to these tooth replacements, they are a bit whiter in color than natural teeth. This is another reason cosmetic dentists prefer to use them in the back of the mouth rather than the front, to prevent the slight variation in color from being noticeable when the person smiles.

Labels: all porcelain crowns, cosmetic dental crowns, dental crowns, porcelain crowns