Why Is A Dental Crown Required?
You may need a dental crown for the following reasons:
• Protecting a weak tooth from breaking (perhaps due to decay or due to trauma leading to breakage of the tooth).
• A significantly worn down tooth, will also require a tooth crown.
• Teeth with massive fillings are occasionally restored with tooth crowns.
• The outer covering of the implant is generally made with dental crowns. This outer covering, thus, looks and performs like a regular tooth.
• After a root canal treatment, the tooth is generally given a crown to strengthen the tooth.
Types of Dental Crowns
1. Metal Crowns
• Metal crowns make use of metals such as gold, nickel, and chromium for fabrication of the crowns.
• These crowns are excellent in function and are resistant to forces of biting and chewing.
• The biggest flaw of this sort of crown is the metallic colour.
2. Porcelain fused metal
• Porcelain or ceramic is commonly used by dentists because it looks and feels like a regular tooth.
• Porcelain is fused with metal (hence the name porcelain fused metal or PFM) to improve the strength of the material.
• This type of crown is by far the most commonly used crown type in dentistry.
• They offer the durability of metal crown while maintaining a white, tooth-like colour.
• They however have a small flaw, where the margins (edges) of the crowns tend to get exposed as the years pass by leading to the underlying metal to show through the white ceramic. This may necessitate having these crowns replaced after some years.
3. Zirconia crowns
• To get rid of the long-term problems associated with the use of regular PFM crowns, zirconia crowns were introduced into the market.
• Unlike regular metals, zirconia is white. So even if on the long run, the metal margin is exposed, it will not be too obvious to the naked eye.
• These crowns are a lot more expensive when compared to regular crowns.
4. All ceramic crowns
• When compared to other crown types, all ceramic crowns look the most natural.
• These crowns almost look and feel like natural teeth.
• They can also a great option if you’re allergic to metals such as nickel or cobalt.
• They are not, however, as durable as PFM crowns.
• Front teeth are commonly restored with all-ceramic crowns.
