FAQ

What is a Crown and what are the benefits opposed to a filling?

A crown is a type of dental restoration which completely caps or encircles a tooth or dental implant. Crowns are often needed when a large cavity threatens the ongoing health of a tooth. They are typically bonded to the tooth using dental cement and can be made to look very beautiful, natural & life-like. Crowns can be made from many materials; metal, gold, ceramic, porcelain etc. Crowns are often used to improve the strength or appearance of teeth. They are more durable than fillings, as they resist displacement from chewing forces a lot better. A filling may be less expensive, but a crown should last much, much longer, providing it is properly looked after.

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Crowns & Bridges

As a person gets older, adult teeth naturally become darker due to mineral changes in the tooth. This is made worse by staining due to coloured food/drink, tobacco and even certain medications.

With a world increasingly focused on beauty and youth, it's no wonder that professionally performed tooth whitening has quickly become one of the safest, most common, anti-ageing cosmetic treatments in the market today.

So join us for a cup of tea to discuss how we can help you find the smile you're looking for. There are various options from crowns, bridges, dental implants to tooth whitening. Patients who have had smile makeovers are usually thrilled with the results saying "It has been a life changing prodedure!".

Crowns

The next stage in a tooth's life is a crown. We use crowns for both structural and aesthetic reasons and they look like teeth! Unsightly, heavily restored teeth with grey, intrinsic, amalgam tattooing or fractured teeth are ideal for crowns. Restoring the bite height, enhancing the smile and improving function can also be achieved using crowns.

Anterior Crown

After anaesthesia the tooth is prepared. Preparation reduces the overall height and bulk of the tooth and gives us a shoulder around the tooth; this is the finishing line for the technician to work to. Crowns may also have a featheredge, but this is usually when we are using gold. An impression is taken which is sent to the technician. With our policy of metal free where possible, we favour all porcelain crowns. These are either constructed by the technician using a wax template or CAD technology with the crown being milled from a porcelain block. Where cost, preparation difficulty, added strength or splinting is an issue then we can also use bonded crowns. These are gold crowns with a porcelain covering. They are particularly useful in cases where there is inadequate tooth material to cut a shoulder. The gold can be feather edged and the shoulder built into the gold before addition of the porcelain. The crown is returned to us for fitting, bite adjustment and cementation. A temporary crown is placed while the permanent crown is being constructed.

The materials are fantastic, realistic and techniques so good that crowns are of a high quality, resilient and aesthetically pleasing whether all porcelain or bonded and they feel great! The option of crown type will be discussed between you and your dentist.

Inlays

There is a time in a tooth's life when the cavity is too large for a filling but too small to warrant crowning. In these cases we use inlays. This is an indirect technique where we prepare the tooth and then take an impression, this is sent to the Laboratory along with your tooth shade. A temporary filling material is placed for up to two weeks while the inlay is made. The Laboratory fabricates the inlay filling on a plaster replica of your tooth. This ensures the fit, the bite and the contact with adjoining teeth. The inlay is then returned for cementation. It is tried in the mouth, small bite corrections may be made and then the inlay is cemented in place.

Gold Inlay

We attempt to be metal free in this practice and so our material of choice is porcelain. Many of our patients are intolerant to metal and so this is a good choice for them. Some prefer gold and there are a small number of cases where gold would be preferable. This will be discussed between you and your dentist.

Bridges

Bridge

Tooth loss leads to unsightly gaps, tipping of teeth and over eruption of opposing teeth. This reduces both form and function and may have a detrimental effect on both your jaw joints and your facial appearance due to height reduction of the bite. It is our belief that missing teeth should be replaced. Many headaches and neck pain could have been avoided by timely intervention and the fabrication of a bridge at the correct height to replace the missing tooth or teeth. Bridges span a gap and are of various types:

• Maryland bridge: is a porcelain tooth with wings that are bonded to either one or both teeth adjacent to the gap. This type of bridge has minimal preparation.
• Cantilever bridge: One or more teeth adjacent to the gap are prepared as for a crown with an additional tooth constructed by the technician that is free on one side and fixed on the other. This is ideal for fixing a small tooth that is missing to a tooth with long roots or with more than one root.
• Fixed bridge: a conventional bridge spanning two points with a pontic in the middle. This is ideal for long spans and also where bite strength is important. The teeth adjacent to the gap are prepared as for crowns. The rest of the procedure is the same as for a conventional crown preparation. Temporary bridges are fitted while the permanent bridge is being constructed. The part of the bridge that sits over your gum should have a natural sluiceway to help keep it clean. However you will need to use super floss to keep it really healthy.

Front Teeth

Crown and bridgework is essentially the same front or back. There is a little more attention paid to below gum preparation of the tooth to maximise aesthetics. However crowns are not the only way of restoring the front teeth especially when it comes to dental cosmetics. A dental make over should utilise the least invasive techniques while still maximizing on aesthetics. For teeth that are crooked, stained, chipped or otherwise unsightly Thineers may be the restoration of choice.