Monday, February 8, 2010

Porcelain-Fused-To-Metal-Crowns

If you need a tooth restored, you might consider a porcelain-fused-to-metal crown.

Several benefits can result from a PFM crown.

· It will cover and protect the tooth.
· It is a durable and attractive cosmetic tooth enhancement
· The inner metal core buffers the crown against heavy biting pressures
· The outer porcelain layer looks virtually identical to the color of natural tooth enamel

Porcelain-fused-to-metal crown are made out of a metal core surrounded by a layer of baked porcelain that is fused to the metal.

There are many reasons why your Houston dentist may recommend a porcelain-fused-to-meal crown.

You might need to repair a tooth that has lost its original dental filling. A PFM crown is an great way to save such a tooth by protecting it against future decay and restoring its full functionality.

You may have initially damaged your tooth because of Bruxism without even knowing it. Restoring it with a porcelain-fused-to-metal crown can repair damaged surface and protect it against future wear and tear.

A tooth could have also been badly cracked or fractured. Sometimes these breaks are so bad that many dentists would write off the tooth as unsalvageable and recommend pulling it. We prefer to save teeth instead. In our office, a PFM crown can be placed over even a terribly broken tooth and cause it to work as if it were new and natural.

You will need to plan on making at least two trips to the dentist because making a PFM crown involves a number of preliminary, preparatory steps and the coordinated partnership of a special dental laboratory. This laboratory is where your porcelain crown is actually made.

In order for the lab to know what size and shape to make the crown, they will need full impressions of your teeth. Your first visit involves making these impressions. It also involves cleaning and reshaping the tooth so the PFM crown will properly fit it. This is a simple enough process.

Your dentist will first numb the area around your tooth and place a rubber dam in the back of your mouth to keep dental debris from falling into your throat. Next, the dentist shapes your tooth by removing any decay from it, and by resurfacing it with the dental handpiece so it will function as a secure and sure foundation for the crown.

After the tooth has been taken care of, the dentist then takes full impressions of your teeth and uses this to build a model of your mouth. The dentist will then fit your tooth with a temporary crown so that decay and plaque will not harm it. The dentist then sends you home and sends the impressions of your mouth to the lab.

After the lab receives the model, it uses the replicas of your teeth to make a porcelain-fused to-metal crown that is precision-suited to match your tooth. When the restoration is ready, it is sent back to your dentist to be fitted to your tooth during your second appointment.

Labels: , ,


Monday, June 22, 2009

Reversing The Effects of an Aging Smile with Cosmetic Dental Services

If you feel you are suffering from an aging smile, do not despair or give up on yourself. There are many cosmetic dental treatments that you can receive that can correct these problems. Each of these restorative treatments has its own advantages and disadvantages associated with it, so ask your dentist which one is right for you.

Porcelain veneers
Porcelain veneers can restore a natural-looking appearance to an aging smile. They are made from thin shells of porcelain that are approximately the thickness of false fingernails. The dentist bonds them to either the front or the top of your teeth. Because porcelain veneers are so thin, light can pass through them and allow them to take on the appearance of underlying tooth enamel.

Advantages
Veneers are very tough, and they will last for many years. They will radically improve the appearance of your aging smile. Should your veneers ever become damaged; the dentist can easily repair them.

Disadvantages
The only disadvantage to veneers is the small amount of tooth reduction that is needed. This is non-reversible, so once veneers are bonded to your teeth, you will have to rely upon them for the rest of your life.

You should only allow a trained, experienced cosmetic dentist to bond porcelain veneers to your teeth. The process is simple enough, though, if performed by the right hands, and it only takes two appointments to complete.

Cosmetic Dental Bonding
Another way to cosmetically improve an aging smile is through cosmetic dental bonding. This is a three-step procedure that can be done in only one office visit. It consists of three simple steps. First, the dentist etches the front of the teeth with a mild acid. He or she then applies a special bonding resin to the etched surface, which is in turn hardened with a high-intensity light.

Advantages
Dental Bonding material is made to match the natural color of teeth and looks indistinguishable from the natural.

Disadvantages
The acid used in bonding removes a portion of tooth enamel, so you must rely upon bonding for remainder of your life.

All Porcelain Crowns
One embarrassing, and sometimes painful, result of an aging smile is tooth abfraction, or cracked teeth. Porcelain crowns can make these teeth appear as good as new. We recommend all porcelain crowns because they look just like natural tooth enamel, and because they also mimic the shape of natural teeth. Crowns give structural support and protection for teeth and help close gaps between teeth.

Advantages
All porcelain crowns that are made by a trained, experienced cosmetic dentistry center will appear to be natural teeth. They can superbly improve your appearance, and they will last for many years, or even possibly the rest of your life. They also require the least amount of tooth reduction, which really does not matter anyway if a tooth is cracked, decayed, or damaged.

Disadvantages
The only negative associated with all porcelain crowns is they may wear on opposing natural teeth if you bite down too hard.

Labels: , , ,


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: , , ,


Monday, March 16, 2009

Crown Lengthening Can Restore Teeth and Lay the Groundwork for More Advanced Cosmetic Dental Procedures



Crown lengthening is used to correct a condition called a gummy smile which occurs when teeth appear to be too small or too short. This condition can be the result of several things. Periodontal disease can cause excess gum tissue to overlap teeth and make them look much smaller than they are. If a tooth was previously filled with primitive amalgam fillings or capped with a gold crown, it can decay and lose significant surface area without the person even knowing this. When the cap or filling falls out, what remains of the tooth appears to retreat into the gum line. Also, teeth can break off right at the gums and appear to be completely missing.

Most dentists in past decades would have pulled these teeth. This is not so today. Crown lengthening enables dentists today to save and completely restore these teeth with a simple surgical procedure.

The surgery can be performed with traditional instruments, or with the PerioLase® MVP-7 laser used in LANAP. The choice of surgical tools depends on factors that from the patient’s medical history, the presence of gum disease, and whether or not the tooth itself has been subject to decay or severe impact. The dentist will make this decision, take x-rays of the mouth, and then commence with the surgery.

The surgery itself is a simple procedure performed under local anesthetic to kill the pain. The dentist makes small incisions in the gums and pulls them back. Excess gum and bone tissue is then reshaped until the desired amount of tooth surface is exposed. The dentist then replaces and stitches the gums with tiny sutures.

After a prescribed healing time, the stitches are removed and the tooth is covered with a porcelain crown. This cosmetic dental crown will provide a hard chewing surface that will allow the person to eat a normal diet, and it will prevent further tooth decay from occurring underneath its surface.

Crown lengthening offers a good many benefits that make it a very popular treatment here at the Medical Center Dental Group. It can improve periodontal health by being one of several steps taken in the treatment of gum disease. Porcelain dental crowns serve as a buffer against excessive and unhealthy gum growth by providing a solid, uniform surface gums can attach themselves too. This procedure has proven highly effective in saving teeth that would have otherwise had to have been pulled. On a purely subjective level, crown lengthening also lays the foundation for advanced cosmetic dental work that allows the patient to also eat a normal diet without fear of damaging their teeth.

For more information on related topics, visit the following links on our main website:

Labels: , , , , ,