Dental Crowns – The Gold Standard in Dental Restorative Materials

If you have a broken tooth, a root canal or major decay a dental crown is an important part of your treatment. Crowns can also help crooked and misshapen teeth look normal.

First, we scan your mouth with our iTero scanner to eliminate the need for messy impressions and physical molds. Then a restoration is designed, created, and cemented in our lab. See our home page.

Porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns

Porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns are a tried and true dental restoration that offers strength and esthetics to restore teeth. These caps can be used to protect teeth after root canal therapy, to repair a cracked or chipped tooth, and to cover discolored or misshapen teeth. Porcelain on its own can look quite natural and blend in well with adjacent teeth. The metal alloy underlying the porcelain adds durability to resist the pressure of chewing.

These metals include copper, nickel, chromium, iron, and cobalt. Some patients are sensitive to these materials and may develop an allergy to them.

Zirconia is a newer material in the world of tooth replacement that is both tough and beautiful. Zirconia can be color-matched to the surrounding teeth and is incredibly durable. This makes it a good option for patients with allergies to base metals. It’s also a good choice for patients with bruxism because it is very resistant to cracking and grinding.

Metal-free crowns

Dental crowns are an effective way to treat damaged teeth. They are often recommended after a root canal, a tooth break, or to protect the remaining natural tooth after an extraction. These restorations can help restore the function of a tooth, as well as provide cosmetic benefits.

Metal-free crowns are a great option for patients with metal allergies. They are also less expensive than those made of porcelain fused to metal. These crowns are most commonly made of lithium-disilicate ceramic or zirconium. These materials are very similar to glass and have a translucent appearance that makes them look quite natural.

Unlike the black lines that are visible around the gum line with traditional metal or metal-ceramic fittings, these crowns blend in perfectly with natural teeth. Moreover, they are less likely to cause damage to the surrounding teeth, as they do not conduct heat or cold as efficiently as metal. In addition, they have the added benefit of providing a more natural aesthetic, which is particularly important for self-conscious teenagers and working professionals.

Porcelain-fused-to-ceramic crowns

PFM crowns have long been the gold standard in dental restorative materials. They are durable and cost-effective. Their esthetic qualities are limited by the gray metal substructure that must be disguised with a layer of porcelain. They are also susceptible to a dark line at the gumline and can be less adaptable to natural tooth structures as chewing force increases over time.

A more aesthetically pleasing alternative to PFM crowns is all-ceramic restorations. These are fabricated in our on-site laboratory using a chairside 3D scanner to generate a virtual design model of your teeth without needing impressions. Our skilled ceramists can combine more than one porcelain color on a single restoration and can custom stain them to achieve a more blended appearance with surrounding natural teeth.

VC Dental offers both Procera and Empress ceramic crowns. Both are milled from a solid block of ceramic material on our in-house CAD/CAM machine. Procera uses an aluminum oxide core and is layered with a superficial outer layer of feldspathic porcelain for superior strength. Unlike porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns, which have one standard shade and translucency, modern ceramic crowns are color-matched in multiple layers to achieve the most lifelike aesthetics.

Porcelain-fused-to-porcelain crowns

These crowns have a metal substructure underlying and porcelain/ceramic on top. They are very durable and look quite natural. They’ve been around for a long time and are relatively affordable compared to modern, zirconia-based materials.

The metal alloys used can have varying proportions of noble, semi-precious, and base metals. Some of these metals are more biocompatible, and therefore less prone to allergic reactions than others. The best option is gold as it doesn’t corrode, wears very well, and does not irritate gum tissue or bone.

Porcelain-fused-to-porcelain crowns can last an average of 10 to 15 years. Severe bruxism or chewing on hard objects can crack the porcelain, so patients are encouraged to wear a night guard for additional protection. This type of crown is ideal for patients with extensive tooth decay beyond what a filling can repair or who have broken teeth. It can also restore misshaped or misshapen teeth and correct bite problems. Porcelain-fused-to-porcelain restorations do not transmit light very well, however, because the underlying metal coping blocks light from passing through. Next article.