What is a Dental Crown?

When you suffer damage to a tooth, your dentist uses one of the multiple methods at his disposal to restore your smile. One such method is a dental crown. A crown is also sometimes used to replace missing teeth. But what is a dental crown?

What is a Dental Crown?

A crown fills gaps and restores missing or damaged teeth. Having an artificial tooth or a protected one in place helps you maintain a healthy bite and chew your food. This enables you to stay physically healthy in other ways, too. After all, good oral health ensures you can receive proper nutrition.

Multiple types of crowns exist. Your dentist helps you choose the right style for your needs. Factors in this decision include cost, goals for your appearance and your biochemistry. Some dental crowns invisibly restore your smile, being made of natural-looking materials. Others, like gold crowns, appear in your mouth to suit your personal taste. What is a dental crown made of, anyway? Options for your crown include:

• Metal alloys
• Porcelain
• Ceramics
• Composite resin

Most people prefer a crown that blends with your natural teeth. If a natural look is your goal, a porcelain, ceramic or composite resin crown fits your needs.

A crown works like its name implies, as a cap over a tooth. Placing this cap restores your tooth’s shape, strength, size, and function. The dentist sometimes uses a crown for tooth decay treatment. He also uses one for cracked or broken teeth, to supplement remaining strength and hold the tooth together.

Do I Need a Crown?

Dental crowns serve multiple purposes. These purposes include:

• Filling a tooth damaged by decay
• Supporting a bridge to replace a missing tooth
• Covering dental implants
• Repairing a tooth with cracks, excessive wear or weakened by decay
• Protecting a tooth after root canal therapy
• Improving your smile over a discolored or poorly shaped tooth

Help Your Crown Last Many Years

For your crown’s lasting wear, take good care of it and your overall oral health. Brush twice daily and floss as you should, to remove plaque on and around your teeth. Use a soft-bristled toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste, or other products your dentist recommends.

Avoid eating crunchy or hard foods that can damage or break your crown. These include popcorn kernels, ice, hard candies or non-food items you put in your mouth. Tooth-colored crowns made of porcelain, ceramic and composite resin break more easily than other types, so take extra care with these.

See your dentist every six months for routine exams and cleanings. Your dentist and dental hygienist check your crown for damage or other signs of problems, each time you visit. Other dental services you possibly need with or in place of crowns include:

• Cosmetic dentistry
• Sedation dentistry
• Restorative dentistry
• Preventive dentistry
• General dentistry
• Dental implants
• Wisdom Teeth Removal

In Queen Creek, Arizona, visit Marketplace Dental Excellence for your dental crown or other restorative needs. Call 480.545.8700 to schedule your visit and learn more about, “What is a dental crown?”