Dental crowns have an interesting history going back thousands of years. Skeletons found on Luzon Island in the Phillipines show that gold was used to create teeth and as caps for teeth. The Etruscans in Italy used gold for dental crowns about 700 BC. Europe saw the introduction of porcelain dentures during the 1800s.
However, it was left to Dr Charles Land to create the dental crown in 1903 using porcelain material. His method was to reconstruct a broken tooth with a porcelain cover, a practice that lasted until the 1950s. Since then more modern methods and materials are in use to construct crowns and you can benefit by excellent procedure of dental crowns in Roswell GA.
Functions of the crown in dental procedure
- Crown is a fancy name for a simple cap that goes over an existing tooth that has been ground and shaped to receive the crown. Crowns may be used for several purposes.
- A decaying tooth can be saved by root canal. After cleaning out the tooth and filling it a crown goes over it to keep the tooth covered and protected.
- Cracked, broken or worn teeth benefit by being capped with a crown. Dentists expert in dental crowns in Roswell GA will clean, grind and prepare the tooth or couple of teeth after which a made to order crown is glued in place.
- Crowns, as you will find, are also used in implants in which a titanium screw fits into the jawbone and a crown is the final assembly going over the abutment.
- If your front teeth are crooked, malformed or discolored then your dentist specializing in dental crowns and dental bridges may recommend suitable crown procedure.
- A crown is also used to hold a bridge in place. This procedure is applied when two or more teeth have fallen out and an implant is too expensive or not practical.
Crowns serve a cosmetic function and a more practical purpose of protecting the underlying tooth from further wear and decay. Crown work may be necessary to fill a gap between teeth, which, if left as is, would cause other teeth to shift, loosen and fall out or cause temporomandibular joint issues. Gaps tend to accumulate food particles that breed bacteria and cause further tooth decay, which can be prevented by resorting to crown work.
Costs vary, depending on the extent of work involved and the material of the crown.
Materials used in dental crowns
Thanks to modern science you no longer are restricted in your choice of materials for dental crowns and dental bridges. You can take your pick from three main categories: metal, porcelain and resin.
Metal:
The plus side to choosing metal crowns is that metal is strong. The crown can be thinner which means less of the tooth has to be ground. It will last longer and withstands forces of biting and chewing besides being biocompatible. In most cases metal crowns are made of alloys and, where Mercury is used, it is an amalgam. The downside is that a metal crown is quite noticeable.
- Non-precious metal alloy crowns may be made of alloys of aluminum, copper, tin and nickel. Non-noble alloys include chromium, cobalt and nickel as well as titanium. The crown made of base metals is stronger but difficult to make.
- Semiprecious metal alloy crowns may contain between 25% and 60% of precious metals like gold, platinum or palladium. The crown can be thinner and it is durable.
- Precious metal crowns contain gold, platinum and palladium mixed with tin, copper and iron assure a very precise fit because the alloy is malleable and ductile.
Ceramic or porcelain:
Porcelain is becoming the most popular material because it resembles the natural tooth in looks and feel, making it almost indistinguishable. Porcelain is hard and crowns made of this material can last for more than 10 years. The only issues are that the tooth may have to be ground more and that porcelain may crack and break. Still, you do have choices in the material that goes into making porcelain crowns.
- Alumina porcelain uses aluminum oxide ceramic for the inner core and a feldspathic outer layer for translucency.
- Porcelain crowns may be cast using feldspathic material for the outer layer over which goes a fine layer of glass and inner layer of pressed ceramic.
- Lithium disilicate glass is known for strength and translucency. It is biocompatible and durable and the crown can be made in a lab or machined using CAD/CAM machine in the dental clinic.
- Zirconia is another ceramic material that is proving quite popular for extreme toughness and durability. The crown may be made from a block of Zirconia milled on a CaAD/CAM machine, or Zirconia may be used for the core with a transparent porcelain layer on top for a natural, translucent, reflective look.
- Porcelain fused to metal is another option in crowns. The substrate, made of any of the alloy mentioned above, is covered with a coating of ceramic
Resin:
Crowns may be made using composite polymer resins like polymethyl methylacrylate or silicon dioxide resin. Such crowns are used as temporary stand in crowns until a permanent crown is made. It may be used in the place of stainless steel crown, another temporary crown.
The procedure of putting a crown in place
- A typical procedure of dental crowns in Roswell GA would be something along the following lines.
- Assuming that you have had a cavity procedure or root canal work done, your dentist will fill the teeth to seal the cavity and then use dental mould to make an impression of your teeth.
- Based on the mold dimensions your dentist will order out the crown or data may be input to the CAD/CAM machine in the dentist’s clinic. When a machine is used then it is not necessary to take an impression of your teeth; a 3D imaging feature is used. This machining in clinic procedure will get you the crown in one sitting.
- Your dentist will use dentist drill/grinder to grind away a thin layer from the tooth on which the crown must fit.
- Adhesive is used to affix crown to the tooth, cured with exposure to UV and excess glue removed.
- If a tooth has been extracted your dentist specializing in dental crowns and dental bridges will recommend an implant for which a titanium screw is embedded in the jawbone over which goes a post and then a crown, machined to the right dimensions, is prepared and cemented in place.
Now that you know a bit about crowns, you can make a better choice if and when it is time for you to get a crown for your tooth at your friendly dentist specializing in dental crowns in Roswell GA.