Crowns:

If your tooth is damaged to the point where it can no longer hold a filling, a crown may be necessary. A crown looks and functions the same as a natural tooth. If your tooth is decayed, cracked, or in danger of cracking, a porcelain crown may be what you need. Crowns are custom fitted to the contours of your tooth. A crown covers the tooth completely, fitting onto the gum and protecting your tooth from further damage.

Crowns both strengthen and protect your tooth, as well as greatly improving your smile. Crowns can be made of gold, porcelain, or stainless steel. Whatever material you choose, the crown will protect your teeth and gums from further damage. This can all be done from start to finish by your dental professionals at Town Center Dental.

The term "dental crown" means the cover or cap that covers the tooth to restore its normal shape and size and improves the appearance of a tooth. A dental crown is normally applied when the fillings doesn't work in a broken tooth.

A dental crown holds the tooth together to seal the cracks so the damage doesn't get worse. It supports a large filling, protects and restores weak teeth from fracturing, attaches a bridge, or covers discolored teeth and can also give a proper shape to badly shaped teeth.

A dental crown is placed over a tooth - covering the tooth to restore its shape and size. The crowns, when cemented into place, fully sheath the entire visible portion of a tooth that lies at and above the gum line.

When a dental crown is necessary:

1) To protect a weak tooth from breaking or to hold together parts of a cracked tooth
2) To restore a broken tooth or a tooth that has been severely worn down
3) To support and cover a tooth with a large filling when there isn't a lot of tooth left
4) To hold a dental bridge in place
5) To cover misshaped or severely discolored teeth

Different types of crowns

- Metal crowns
- Porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns
- All-resin dental crowns
- All-ceramic or all-porcelain dental crowns

On average, dental crowns can hold your teeth between 5 and 15 years. The life period of a dental crowns last long if you follow good oral hygiene practices and your personal dental health related habits. Contact your dental professionals at Town Center Dental to answer any further questions you may have with respect to dental crowns.

Steps that are involved in preparing a tooth for a crown:

Examining and preparing the tooth.
At the first visit, your Town Center Dental dentist will take a few x-rays in order to examine the roots of the tooth receiving the crown and surrounding bone. Now, your dentist will take an impression of the tooth to receive the crown. Then your dentist will make a temporary dental crown made of acrylic, to cover and protect the prepared tooth while the crown is being made.

At your second visit, your dentist will check the fit and color of the permanent dental crown after removing your temporary crown. If everything is suitable and satisfactory, he will inject a local anesthetic to numb the tooth. And the new dental crown will be permanently cemented in place.

Care for temporary dental crown:

- Avoid muggy, chewy foods which can grab and pull off the crown.
- Less use temporary crowned side of your mouth.
- Avoid chewing hard foods otherwise they could remove or break the crown.
- Rather than lifting out try to Slide flossing material out.

Problems that could develop with a dental crown:

- Soreness or sensitivity.
- Cracked crown.
- Slacked crown.
- Allergic reaction.
- Dark line appears next to the gum line on crowned tooth.