Wednesday, February 17, 2016

How to Ensure that your Dental Crowns Last and Look Beautiful

Restoring teeth in a way that meets patients’ goals for attractive and long-lasting dental care requires careful consideration. While practicing effective oral hygiene at-home and avoiding bad habits that can damage your teeth are essential to making sure your dental crowns last for a lifetime, selecting the best method of restoring your smile starts with our dental office.

Considering Your Needs

Location of Damaged Teeth:  Planning for a crown starts with evaluating the location of teeth in your smile that need to be treated. Molars take a lot of pressure from chewing force and therefore must be restored in a way that can support this continual use, without cracking or breaking the restoration. While crowns placed on molars are made to look life-like, they are not located in your smile zone and do not come with the aesthetic scrutiny that front teeth may get. Anterior teeth, or front teeth, that need crowns must therefore be restored in a way that mimics real dental enamel as closely as possible.

Oral Health Habits: Teeth grinding is a common habit that can damage teeth, requiring that they be restored with a crown. However, providing the best restoration possible means finding a way to prevent similar damage to the crown itself. Other bad habits, such as chewing on hard, inedible items (such as pen caps and fingernails) can damage real teeth and prosthetics.

By taking all of these factors into consideration to build your treatment plan, materials can then be selected that will help limit future wear and tear and look as seamless as possible.

Materials Used for Longevity and Function

Porcelain Fused to Metal - A base of metal with a layer of white or tooth-colored porcelain has long been considered the sturdiest of treatment options. For many patients, PFM crowns are utilized on back teeth, as they provide lasting biting and chewing function, without wearing down as quickly as other, less durable restorative materials.

All-Porcelain - More commonly used in cosmetic restorations, utilizing a dental crown with pure porcelain elements helps achieve a more natural-looking restoration that matches the appearance of natural dental enamel. All-porcelain crowns are excellent choices for anterior teeth in your smile line.

Zirconia - Providing the best of both words, Zirconia is a glass-ceramic combination that matches the luminous quality of your own teeth and is exceptionally strong. Zirconia crowns can be used for patients who are interested in maximum cosmetic appeal and who may be hard on their teeth.

At James T. White, DDS, we work to ensure that your dental crowns provide best possible results for improvements in dental function and are as long-lasting as they are attractive. To learn more about what’s involved in your crown restoration treatment, contact our Berkeley dental office.

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