If
you want a smile that's your crowning glory, you
may need a crown to cover a tooth and restore it
to its normal shape and size. A crown can make your
tooth stronger and improve its appearance.
It can cover and support a tooth with a
large filling when there isn't enough tooth left.
It can be used to attach a bridge, protect a weak
tooth from breaking or restore one that's already
broken. A crown is a good way to cover teeth that
are discolored or badly shaped. It's also used to
cover a dental implant.
If your dentist recommends a crown, it's probably
to correct one of these conditions. Your dentist's
primary concern, like yours, is helping you keep
your teeth healthy and your smile bright -- literally,
your crowning glory.
CROWNS AND BRIDGE TYPES
There are several types of currently used crowns
that can broken down into four classifications:
1.
All Porcelain Bonded Crowns:
A. Feldspathic Porcelain: is the traditional
porcelain, that many cosmetic dentists feel that
is the most beautiful porcelain used for Crowns
and Veneers. These crowns are made by shaping and
stacking the porcelain on a model of the prepared
teeth color is added in the porcelain, which is
then baked in porcelain oven. These crowns while
by far the most aesthetic, tend to be the most technique
sensitive and are less desirable on the back teeth.
B.
Empress Crowns: Empress while not a true
porcelain crown , can be called a ceramic material
that is more like a glass. The Empress material
is pressed rather than baked unlike a feldspathic
porcelain crown, and are reinforced pressed Lucite,
giving it greater strength and durability. The fit
of Empress is precise. However, the color in Empress
is mostly baked on the outside after casting. Empress
can be very beautiful. Some expert cosmetic dentists
prefer Empress Crowns on front teeth while other
like the feldspathic porcelain both materials are
commonly used for Veneers.
ISP Empress Veneers |
2.
Porcelain Crowns with a ceramic substrate of Zirconia
or Alunina:
A.
Procera Crowns: Procera Crowns are
produced using CAD technology utilizing either Zirconia
or Alumina core on the inside with a porcelain baked
onto the outside. This combination results in excellent
strength. An advantage of Procera is that it doesn't
have to be bonded to the tooth but can be cemented
with ordinary crown and bridge cement.
B.
The Lava Crowns: Lava is similar to Procera,
but the Zirconia CAD/CAM produced ceramic substrate
is more translucent rather than an opaque white
material, the proprietary pre-blended ceramic exterior
is pressed onto it resulting in more translucent
crown than that of Procera. The Zirconia is shaded,
and then the final esthetics of the crown are achieved
in the baked-on outer layer. The Lava crown can
also be cemented with traditional techniques. Some
of the other brand names that are of this type include
In-Ceram, Cercon, and more!
Lava Crowns |
3.
Porcelain Crowns fused to a metal substrate
A.
Porcelain Fused to Gold or Other Metals:
Porcelain fused to metal crowns have a nearly
natural appearance, subject to two limitations:
Because they have a metal substructure, they require
the use of an opaquer under the porcelain, which
makes it impossible to re-create the translucency
of natural teeth. They can also show a dark line
at the edge, next to the gum. Dentists try to hide
this line under the gum, but sometimes they are
unable to do this; and sometimes the line doesn't
show when the crown is first placed but shows later,
as the gum recedes But porcelain fused to metal
is stronger than all porcelain.
B. Captek Crowns: Captek Crowns achieve
esthetics that rival all-ceramic restorations. Ceramic
material is pressed or fuse to a 22kt gold understructure.
The unique gold color of the coping provides a warmer
and more life like appearance at the gingival margin.
Because the Captek coping is not cast there are
no dark oxides on the surface that discolor the
porcelain. This makes Captek one of the most esthetic
porcelain fused to metal restoration ever developed.
Captek Crowns |
4.
All Gold Crowns:
Full-Cast Gold restorations are the standard for
long term durability.
Where appearance is not a concern to you, gold could
be the best choice. Since the gold metal is very
workable, gold crowns are able to have a more precise
fit than any other type. Gold also eliminates the
slight possibility of chipping that exists with
anything that contains porcelain. For simple longevity,
nothing beats gold. Be careful of cheaper alloys,
because some of them can provoke a metal allergy.
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BRIDGES
If
you're missing one or more teeth, you may notice
a difference in chewing and speaking. There are
options to help restore your smile.
Bridges help maintain the shape of your face, as
well as alleviating the stress in your bite by replacing
missing teeth. Sometimes called a fixed partial
denture, a bridge replaces missing teeth with artificial
teeth, looks great, and literally bridges the gap
where one or more teeth may have been. The restoration
can be made from gold, alloys, porcelain or a combination
of these materials and is bonded onto surrounding
teeth for support. Unlike a removable bridge, which
you can take out and clean, a fixed bridge can only
be removed by a dentist
An
implant bridge attaches artificial teeth directly
to the jaw or under the gum tissue. Depending on
which type of bridge your dentist recommends, its
success depends on its foundation. So it's very
important to keep your remaining teeth healthy and
strong.
