Do you know what a dental crown or cap does? When a tooth is missing a large portion of its original shape either due to trauma, decay or has had root canal therapy, we are often left with a tooth that is more filling than actual tooth. Such teeth are more prone to fracture and over time could be in need of removal.
A dental crown is a covering that surrounds the entire surface of the tooth and acts to band together the remaining walls of the tooth. This serves to protect the remaining part of the tooth since you are chewing on the entire crown, rather than on part of the filling material or tooth.
Traditional crowns can be made of full gold or metal but those are sometimes not very pleasing to the eye. Porcelain fused to metal crowns offer a combination of strength and aesthetics since they have a metal foundation with a porcelain overlay on top. The problem is that this porcelain over time can either chip or break exposing the metal underneath.
At our office, we use zirconia crowns, these are crowns that offer a combination of strength, and aesthetics and do not have a metal foundation. Zirconia is a very strong metal which possesses the unique characteristic of being white in colour when it is processed.
We also use the iTero 3D digital impression system at the office for all our crown and bridge work. This ensures we give you the best resulting crown without the gag and goop of traditional impression materials.
West Bowmanville Dental Centre
