Dental Crowns- What You need To Know

Our teeth get damaged or lose their shape or size over time due to several factors. To protect them from such situations, our dentist at Christensen Dental recommends dental crowns.

What Are Dental Crowns?

Dental Crowns are tooth-shaped caps placed over damaged or misshapen teeth. It is cemented above your tooth to hide and protect the damaged tooth. A dental crown is designed to reinstate the tooth’s shape, size, appearance, and strength.

Dentists recommend a dental crown for any of these purposes:

• Protecting fragile teeth from breaking
• Keeping broken teeth together and intact with their pieces
• Replacing a severely worn-down tooth
• Covering a root canal-treated tooth
• Placing over dental implants
• Provide better hold on dental bridges
• Hiding a severely stained tooth

 Types of Dental Crowns

Different materials like porcelain, ceramic, zirconia, metal and composite resin are used to make dental crowns. Moreover, there are also several types of dental crowns like:

Temporary Crown

As the name suggests, temporary crowns are placed in your mouth only for a short period. It is placed using an adhesive that can be removed easily. It is fixed on your teeth while you wait for the permanent crown.

One-Day Crown

A one-day crown is a dental crown that you can obtain in a single appointment.  This type of crown is installed using Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) methods.

Onlays or ¾ Crowns

People who do not want a crown covering the entire tooth can go for onlays or ¾ crowns.

Dental Crown Procedure

Attaching a dental crown proceeds as follows:

• First, the dentist examines the patient’s teeth and takes an X-ray that would be needed in preparing a crown.
• Then, the outer layer of the affected teeth is slightly removed.
• The impression is taken of the trimmed tooth and its surrounding area.
• Then, a temporary crown is placed over your teeth to protect them until the permanent one is made.
• After a few weeks, you will be asked to visit the dental office to replace the temporary crown with the permanent one. Here, the dentist permanently fixes the crown on your tooth, and you are good to go.

Dental Crowns Aftercare

After the crown is fixed, it’s time to take care of it appropriately since it can make your crown last longer. Therefore, you need to:

• Brush and floss the teeth regularly.
• Stay away from hard food as it can lead to a chipped or cracked crown.
• Get a nightguard in case you grind or clench your teeth while sleeping. 

Christensen Dental offers comprehensive dental services, including dental crown placement, at Henderson, NV. For more details and appointments, call us at (702) 331-2121, book online, or visit us at 10521 Jeffreys St #200, Henderson, NV 89052.