Answering Commonly Asked Questions About Dental Crowns

Lack of maintaining dental hygiene can lead to various dental conditions that damage the structure of your teeth or their appearance. Accidents and injuries may also occur, leading to loss of teeth. Dental crowns are the solution to correcting these dental problems.

What Are Dental Crowns?

These are artificially made teeth. You may already know that a natural tooth comprises a crown (the part of the tooth above your gum) and a root (the part of the tooth inside your gum).

Dental crowns are made in the likeness of the part of the tooth above your gum minus the root, meaning that, when being installed in your mouth, a dental crown requires the support of a natural tooth or an artificial root like a dental implant or a denture base.

When Might You Need Dental Crowns?

You might mostly need dental crowns in two scenarios:

• If you have discoloured teeth

Discoloured teeth are treated through dental cleaning, the use of whitening products, bonding or veneers. Veneers are dental crowns that are cemented on natural teeth that have been stripped of their enamel. Natural teeth, in this case, offer the support needed by dental crowns.

• If you have missing teeth

If a dentist installs a dental implant in your jawbone, he or she will require to attach a dental crown after your jawbone fuses with the dental implant and heals. The dental implant acts as an artificial root, while the dental crown mimics the crown of a natural tooth.

Your dentist may also install a dental bridge, which may be a set of two or three artificial teeth joined side by side. They comprise dental crowns and a fake tooth (pontic). If the dental bridge is a set of three artificial teeth, the pontic is positioned in the middle of the dental crowns. Dental bridges are an alternative treatment for missing teeth; they are cemented on the natural teeth adjacent to the gap in your teeth after part of the enamel has been stripped off. The pontic sits in the gap supported by the dental crowns that are cemented on the adjacent teeth.

Are Dental Crowns Expensive?

This is dependent on the dental procedure being performed and the number of dental crowns required. A dental implant procedure may be more expensive than a dental bridge procedure because it utilises titanium and requires surgery. Additionally, the more missing teeth need to be replaced, the higher the cost is.

To learn more about getting dental crowns in your area, contact a dentist near you.

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