Do you have a tooth crown or know someone who does? Your dentist might have suggested a crown in cases of tooth decay/damage/discoloration , to hold a dental bridge in place or to cover a dental implant. Dental crowns can make your smiles dazzling!
Today advanced materials, production methods, and treatments for crowns are available so that the best dentists in Gilbert, Az can offer you a variety of handsome, long-lasting, and economical treatments with better patient experience.
What Is A Dental Crown?
A dental crown is a tooth-shaped "cap" - to cover the tooth to restore its shape, size, strength, and improve its appearance. The crowns, when cemented into place, fully cover the entire visible portion of a tooth.
Materials Traditionally Used For Tooth Crowns
Some materials used for making tooth crowns are:
- Stainless steel crowns, generally used for children's teeth.
- Metals crowns containing metal alloys Eg:Gold . they are durable but the metallic color is a drawback.
- Porcelain-fused-to-metal dental crowns look like your natural teeth, but show wear and tear. Sometimes the underlying metal can show through.
- All-ceramic or all-porcelain dental crowns are suitable for people with metal allergies.
New Synthetic Materials:
Technological advances are leading to the expensive metals in crowns being replaced by less costly zirconium oxide, polyether ether ketone (PEEK), and lithium disilicate (LDS) glass-ceramic materials which are highly durable and appear more like your own teeth.
LDS has a durable crystalline structure. Its coloration, opalescence, and translucence makes it hard to distinguish from a natural tooth. Zirconium oxide is even stronger than LDS, performs well and is resistant to fracturing.
Digital Dental Approach:
Another emerging technology has melded the digital realm with the world of dentistry.
Using in-office dental CAD/CAM technology a digital scan is made of the patient’s tooth and the dentist designs a new crown on the computer. The images are then sent to a 3-D printer that mills the crown from solid blanks of LDS and zirconium. After the crown is built, it can be installed immediately in your mouth.
Advantages of The Digital Dental Approach:
Traditionally if you used to need a crown your mouth was made numb, and then you were made to bite down on a waxy substance to create an impression for temporary and permanent crowns. The temporary was installed, and you would have to return days later for the permanent crown.
With newer technology, you won’t need to give an impression using the dental putty, nor will you have to wear a temporary crown. The computer-designed crowns - which are more accurate and fit better - can be installed within an hour by the best dentists in Gilbert,Az.
These are some facts about the latest technology in tooth crowns.
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