Your dentist may recommend your tooth to receive a crown. Usually when a crown is recommended, the tooth is completely asymptomatic. It doesn’t hurt, and seems to work just fine. So what is a crown? What are the ins and outs of having a crown and why is it necessary?
Understanding Dental Crowns
Dental crowns help to reinforce and strengthen a tooth. So a crown might be recommended if your dentist notices weakness in a tooth (or teeth). Weakness may come from: extensive large decay, repeated episodes of smaller decay, failing larger fillings, or the development of structural cracks in the tooth. If these are left to progress, the cracks will eventually join up and may cause catastrophic fracture of the tooth – leading to the loss of the tooth. Teeth are subject to lots of wear and tear over time. With increase life expectancies, some experts believe that if we live long enough and want to keep our teeth for life, all of our functioning teeth will eventually require crowns for reinforcement.
A crown is like a helmet that supports the tooth. It absorbs the chewing forces and redistributes it so that any cracks present are not allowed to develop further. And just like a helmet, if there are any excessive forces on the crown the crown will shatter leaving the rest of the tooth healthy and intact. A new crown can then be placed. Excessive forces may be: accidentally biting into a seed, pit, fork or even from trauma such as a motor vehicle accident or a fall.
There are numerous different types of crowns. Crowns can be made of: gold, porcelain fused to metal, and all-ceramic. Most crowns these days are all-ceramic. These look and feel just like your normal tooth. There are also lots of different types of ceramics such as: zirconia, monolithic lithium discilicate, or hybrid porcelains. Your dentist will choose the most appropriate material for you, which will depend on your tooth and your bite.
It is commonly thought that when a tooth needs a crown, it also needs a root canal. This is not true. If we are proactive enough, a crown can done early can protect the nerve of the tooth (from cracks or decay). This means a crown can be placed over a healthy tooth. However, if a tooth has already received a root canal treatment, it will almost certainly need a crown as well. This is because when a tooth receives a root canal treatment, the tooth becomes brittle and a crown is needed to protect what’s left.
Factors Affecting the Lifespan of Dental Crowns
There are a lot of factors that affect the lifespan of dental crowns. Most of this relates to the amount of force and the direction of forces that are directed to the crown. The teeth towards the back of the mouth (the molars) have very heavy forces, whilst the teeth towards the front have much lighter forces. This means crowns on the back molars tend to have a shorter lifespan compared to crowns towards the front. A person that grinds their teeth in their sleep would tend to wear through their crowns faster than some who doesn’t.
Other factors that affect the longevity of crowns is acid wear and decay. Whilst the crown itself cannot develop decay, the join where the crown meets the tooth is particularly vulnerable. For this reason it is extremely important to keep your teeth as clean as possible and see your dentist on a regular basis for maintenance. We recommend 6 monthly visits.
Average Lifespan of Dental Crowns
Because there are so many factors that affect the lifespan of dental crowns, it is impossible to accurately predict how long a crown should last. That said, recent research conducted in Germany shows that 94% of crowns will last 8.5 years. Another laboratory study showed that crowns in the back molars are good for 500,000 chewing cycles, whilst the crowns at the front are good for 1,000,000 chewing cycles. So a person that clenches and grinds their teeth will wear through their crown much faster than someone who does not. Regardless, it is always better to have a crown and wear through that crown than to be without one and risk losing the tooth. A crown is fairly simple to replace. An entire tooth is much more difficult.
Maintenance and Care Tips for Dental Crowns
Crowns are generally needed to protect the underlying tooth from excessive chewing forces. This means that even after the crown is placed, most likely those same excessive forces are still in place. Your dentist will evaluate whether there is any other treatment that is recommended to control those forces. Sometimes a crown is required due to physiologic reasons, but sometimes it is due to pathologic reasons – which needs to be controlled. In some cases your dentist may recommend a night guard to help protect your teeth from clenching and grinding at night. Other treatments may include the use of botulinum toxin to reduce the force of the grinding muscles. In certain cases, your dentist may even recommend treatment to change the way that you bite as part of a more comprehensive treatment plan.
Other tips to ensure your crown lasts as long as possible is to maintain good dental hygiene at home. This means brushing twice daily and flossing once daily. This prevents decay from developing where the crown joins onto the tooth. Regular dental visits is also important so that any issues can be addressed and the crowns maintained appropriately. We recommend seeing your dentist twice a year.
Iconic Dentistry: Expert Care for Dental Crowns
Your dentists at Iconic Dentistry are highly trained to deliver the best possible crowns for you (if you need them). We practice digital CAD/CAM dentistry. This means that crowns can be done in single visits. Traditionally crowns are done over 2 visits (with a temporary in between). With advanced techniques we can achieve this in a single visit which means: less time in the chair, less number of appointments, less anaesthetics (needles), and less irritation to the nerve of the tooth. In addition, our dentists have all received extensive international university based post-graduate training so you know any treatment you receive with us is world class. So if you have been told you need a crown in the past, or think you need a crown now give our clinic a call and see how we can help you. If you haven’t seen a dentist for a while please do call in for a check up so we can make sure your teeth are happy and sound.
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