Natural Looking Dental Crowns

Why we use all ceramic crowns at our Acton dental practice.

When a tooth breaks or decay occurs, the most common treatment is a filling. These are mostly used for small and medium-sized repairs, but, in some cases, may not provide an appropriate level of strength. When this is the case, or where more significant damage is present, the most likely restorative treatment to be used is the dental crown.

A crown, or a ‘cap’ as it is sometimes called, is usually attached on to an appropriately prepared tooth, using a special dental adhesive. This adhesive often lasts for around ten years before the crown may need to be reattached again. A quick note here that if you do have a crown, there might be rare occasions where it becomes detached. While this is unusual, if it does happen, please contact your dentist and under no circumstances, attempt to reattach it yourself.

Benefits of crowns

The use of a crown not only provides a good level of strength to a damaged tooth but also looks natural too, especially in the case of the all ceramic teeth crowns that we provide at the Acton Vale Dental Centre, and we will look at these shortly. Where possible, we will always try to save a tooth if we can and the use of a crown is often a very effective way of doing this.

Benefits of all ceramic crowns

Let us have a look at some of the key benefits of this type of tooth crown:

Strength – Ceramic crowns offer a high degree of strength, whether used to restore a damaged tooth or used to complete a root canal procedure or dental implant placement. They are hard wearing and it is unlikely that one will become damaged with reasonable use.

Aesthetically pleasing – The crown can be made to match the colour of your natural tooth, enabling it to blend in well. The smooth surface of the ceramic means that staining and discolouration is less likely too. Unlike where metal is used in the structure of a crown, no dark line will be seen between the crown and the gums.

Biocompatibility – Ceramic is excellent for working well with the natural tooth and there are usually no problems with irritation or allergic reaction between them.

Suitable for all teeth – A crown is an excellent option not only for front teeth that need to look good but also for rear teeth that do a lot of the ‘heavy lifting’ when we eat.

Maintenance – Cleaning your crown is simple and you should treat it as you would a natural tooth. The ceramic part will not decay but you do need to pay attention to the natural tooth that it is attached to. If you neglect this and decay occurs, the crown may not be as secure as with a healthy tooth.

Fitting a ceramic crown

If the dentist at the Acton Vale Dental Centre recommends that a crown is the most suitable treatment to restore a damaged tooth, they will need, first of all, to prepare the affected tooth. This is done by shaping it so that a crown can be securely attached. This will require a local anesthetic to be used before the shaping begins.

Following this, scans and impressions will be taken so that your new crown can be produced at a dental laboratory. As this can take a week or so, you will be fitted with a temporary crown in the meantime. This not only helps the appearance but also protects the prepared tooth while your final one is produced.

Once your new crown is ready, you will be recalled to our clinic and the temporary crown will be removed and the old adhesive cleaned away. The new crown will then be added and attached using a powerful dental adhesive that will hold the crown securely in place.

Once placed, there should be no problems with the crown as long as you clean the natural part of the tooth. Naturally, we will monitor this when you come for your six monthly check up to make sure that all is as it should be.

All ceramic crowns then can be used for restorative purposes and traditionally, this has been their main purpose. Increasingly though, they are also used in cosmetic dentistry to restore a misshapen tooth or a tooth that is too high or low. They can even be used to close some gaps in the teeth such as in the case of a diastema (gap between top front teeth).

If you would like more information about our all ceramic teeth crowns or would like to book a consultation to discuss having them, you can call our Acton dental clinic today and speak to one of our friendly team on 020 8749 3267.