Dental Crowns

Dental crowns cover the tooth and offer protection from attack by bacteria in the mouth, chemical agents like acids in food, and physical wear by abrasives.

Dental crowns are made up of a variety of materials like metal (gold, stainless steel etc), ceramic, porcelain or acrylic resin. Cost of porcelain and ceramic crowns is usually much higher than all-metal or porcelain-fused-to-metal (PFM) crowns.

Yes, dental crowns are a permanent treatment option for damaged teeth. But sometimes, your dentist can give a temporary crown between appointments just to protect your tooth until they fix the permanent crown for you. If taken care of properly, dental crowns can easily last up to 10-15 years.

Pros

• Tooth protection from further damage (by physical and chemical wear down)
• Cosmetic improvement (porcelain crowns look exactly like natural teeth)
• Permanent treatment
• Helps in replacement of missing tooth using implants & bridges

Cons

• The tooth structure has to be cut off to make room for the crown
• Sensitivity to hot and cold drinks initially
• Decay may occur below the crown if proper dental hygiene is not maintained
• Improperly placed crowns can actually cause a lot of pain on biting
• Porcelain crowns can wear out opposing natural teeth
• PFM (Porcelain fused to metal) crowns have a dark line showing between the crown and tooth

• Fillings (Restorations)-
  A filling or restoration can be used to build up decayed, broken down, or worn out teeth. However, when sizable areas of tooth structure have broken off or are worn out, fillings are not a good treatment option since they can get dislodged easily because of inadequate support and retention
• Onlays-
  An onlay is like a partial crown which covers only the top part of your tooth and retains most of the natural tooth structure. They might be a suitable alternative to crowns in certain cases. Onlays do not require a lot of teeth structure to be trimmed off and are glued on to the teeth using bonding cement.
• Veneers-
  Veneers are thin caps which cover only the front part of your tooth. Veneers are usually placed only for cosmetics to get a more aesthetic looking smile. They’re used to fill gaps or cover discolourations in the front teeth.
• Tooth extraction
  When a tooth is so badly damaged that we cannot place any filling or restoration on it and we don’t want to place a crown either, then the only other option is to get it pulled out. Otherwise, the broken down tooth can get severely infected and affect the rest of your teeth.

A dental crown is a “cap” or cover for your tooth. It can be made up of different materials like metal (gold, stainless steel, alloys). ceramic, porcelain or resin. Crowns can be temporary (for a short period) or permanent. Usually, dental crowns cover the entire surface of the tooth, but 3/4th crowns are also available that cover only three out of the four surfaces of the tooth.

Yes, if a tooth has been RCT treated, extensively damaged by decay or dental disease, or worn down to a large extent, tooth crowns are absolutely necessary for protection. Implants and bridges also require tooth crowns to be placed.

They can last anywhere between 5-25 years depending on how much you care for them by maintaining good oral hygiene. Usually, dental crowns come with a guarantee of 10-15 years.

The cost of your dental crown is inclusive of a lot of other costs that your dentist has to pay for. Cost of the dental crown depends on the material it’s made of, it’s manufacturing process, materials used by the dentist to fix the crown, overhead costs required to maintain the clinic and your dentist’s own experience and expertise.

Dental crowns are placed on teeth that are damaged so extensively by decay or physical wear that a simple filling is not sufficient. Teeth that have had a root canal treatment (RCT) done, also need to be capped with crowns because they become weak after RCT and need to be protected. Implants, bridges and cosmetic tooth improvements also require a dental crown to be placed.