Despite good oral hygiene and preventive care, sometimes a tooth may become compromised and require a dental crown restoration. At Paxton Dental Care, patients in the Paxton and Worcester, MA area can restore their teeth with natural-looking, all porcelain dental crowns.
~ Corwyn M.★★★★★
Fantastic people here. Everybody is very friendly and caring, and you feel more like a part of a family than just a patient. I’ll never forget the morning they fit me in to replace a lost crown while a blizzard was starting to blow in.
Benefits of porcelain crowns
Whether you need a crown for a broken tooth, after root canal therapy, to place on top of a dental implant, or another reason, porcelain crowns (also called white teeth caps or ceramic teeth) are a great choice for protecting your tooth from future damage and restoring its full function. Porcelain crowns are:
- Natural-looking – the tooth-colored porcelain blends in seamlessly with your smile and has the same luminosity as natural teeth
- Durable and long-lasting – modern dental ceramics are nearly as strong as natural tooth enamel
- Convenient – for patients interested in same-day crowns, we offer CEREC technology to mill your porcelain crown while you wait
- Functional – dental crowns restore the appearance, health, and feel of your natural teeth so that you can smile, eat, and speak with confidence
Dental crowns at Paxton Dental Care - Dr. Scott Siemen
What is a dental crown?
This is Dr. Scott Siemen at Paxton Dental Care. Today I will be speaking about dental crowns.
A dental crown is a dental treatment that a dentist recommends when a tooth is compromised.
By compromise, I mean the tooth could have possibly had a large filling in it, or perhaps the filling has broken, or possibly the tooth has been worn down from tooth wear or grinding of the teeth.
A crown is similar to a sleeve that goes over the tooth surfaces and essentially holds the tooth together. It gets a new top and new sides. It fits very snugly to the perimeter of the tooth and is bonded into place.
What are the benefits of a dental crown?
Some of the benefits of a dental crown include reconstructing the tooth to its former strength and function.
It also can change the shape and the appearance of a tooth. Sometimes crowns are used in cosmetic dentistry where the front teeth are unsightly, discolored, stained, chipped, or worn.
A dental crown can be used to restore a tooth to its natural function and beauty.
Get the perfect smile you always wanted. Call us today.
The crown placement process
When we see a black line near the pink gum line surrounding a crown, one of the reasons may be that a porcelain fused to metal crown – PFM – was used to restore the front tooth. PFM crowns have a metal alloy as a base, and are layered with porcelain on top. These types of crowns will often have a metal margin that presents a dark grey or black line. The only way to remove this is to redo the crown with an all-porcelain material that will be very cosmetically pleasing. After being made comfortably numb, the existing crown is skillfully removed without damage to the underlying tooth. The tooth preparation is cleaned of any cement from the previous crown and any decay at the margins is removed. A new impression is taken. A temporary crown is then placed on the tooth and the new impression is then sent to the dental lab for fabrication of a custom porcelain crown. At your second appointment, the temporary is removed. The final porcelain crown is then seeded on the tooth. The patient is then ready to smile with confidence with no metal margin showing on their crown.
The key steps for placing a crown are the same whether you choose a traditional crown or a same-day CEREC crown. First, Dr. Scott Siemen will prepare the tooth by shaping it so that your crown will fit in with the rest of your smile. Then, impressions are taken of your teeth so that the crown can be custom-fabricated, either in a laboratory (which generally requires a wait of approximately two weeks) or in the office using CEREC technology while you wait. If you are getting a traditional crown, Dr. Siemen will place a temporary crown to protect your tooth while the crown is being fabricated. When your new crown is ready, Dr. Siemen will try it on your tooth and check to ensure it has the perfect fit before cementing it onto your tooth with a durable bonding agent.
Learn more about dental crowns and which options are right for you by calling Paxton Dental Care today at (508) 557-2400!
