Dental crowns are one of the most used dental restorations when it comes to smile makeover treatments. They are a great way to restore the appearance of a damaged, discolored or deformed tooth while increasing its ability to handle bite forces. Covering a tooth with a dental crown also protects it from further damage down the road.
Crowns are often the last course of action to save a tooth and restore its appearance. These oral restorations encase the visible part of a tooth, instantly restoring the way it looks. It is often used to fix issues like:
Crowns are also used as artificial teeth that are attached to implants. These oral restorations can be color-matched with the rest of the patient's teeth so that any teeth restored with crowns look no different from the rest of the patient's real teeth.
Porcelain crowns are typically used during smile makeover treatments since they look and feel so much like natural teeth. Porcelain is naturally white like real teeth and it is also translucent. Crowns can be made from other materials like metal alloys, gold, platinum and silver. It allows the dentist to customize the patient's smile according to their tastes.
The installation of dental crowns requires the removal of portions of the enamel. This is done to make sure the crown fits tightly on the tooth when it is installed. The removal of enamel is a permanent alteration that cannot be reversed so the tooth will always need to be protected with an oral restoration moving forward. That is not a huge deal since teeth that need crowns are typically already damaged to the point they need to be protected with a restoration.
A local anesthetic is usually administered before the dentist starts removing the enamel. Once the tooth is ready for a crown, an impression of the patient's mouth is taken and sent to a lab that makes dental crowns. It takes approximately two weeks for the crown to be ready. The patient gets a temporary crown in the meantime.
Once the patient's customized crown is ready, they go back to the dentist to have their temporary crown removed and their customized crown attached. There is no recovery time with dental crowns, but it is normal to notice increased tooth sensitivity to hot and cold foods and beverages for the first few days. Patients should avoid hard, chewy or sticky foods for the first few days after getting crowns since these foods can loosen them.
Call our Brevard clinic to learn more about how dental crowns can be part of your smile makeover.
Request an appointment here: https://www.carolinasmilesdentist.com or call Carolina Smiles Family Dental at (828) 974-3326 for an appointment in our Brevard office.
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