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Dental Crowns
What exactly is a dental
crown? The term is actually used to
describe a few different procedures using different kinds of material. In the most basic of terms, a dental crown
is a tooth cap that is placed over a tooth thus covering the tooth to restore
its shape, its size and its strength, thus making it look more attractive and ’normal’.
People choose to have dental
crowns for a number of reasons. In some
cases people who for whatever reason have not taken care of their teeth for
whatever reason may have decay that has permanently eroded parts of their
teeth.
Dental crowns, thus
reversing the appearance of decay, can repair this erosion. In other cases, an
accident such as an athletic mishap and render a smile damaged, crowns can also
be used to fix this problem..
A dental crown may be needed
when at least one of the following occurs:
- To protect a weak tooth (for instance, from
decay) from breaking or to hold together parts of a cracked tooth
- To restore an already broken tooth or a tooth
that has been severely worn down
- To cover and support a tooth with a large
filling when there isn’t a lot of tooth left
- To hold a dental bridge in place
- To cover misshaped or severely discolored teeth
- To cover a dental implant
There are also a host of
different materials you can choose from for your dental crowns. The most popular ones are:
Metals – These could include gold alloy and other base
metal alloys. Metal dental crowns are
by far the toughest. They can withstand
daily wear and tear and they rarely break or chip. The only real drawback is that they look like metal and not a naturally
white tooth.
Porcelain – These have most of the structural strength of a
metal dental crown but the porcelain aspect of them makes sure that they look
like a normal tooth. Of course the
porcelain is slightly more prone to chipping, but they are still tough.
All Resin – These are the least expensive for o crowns. Naturally, though like most inexpensive
things they do not last as long as other types of crowns.
All Porcelain – These are the best looking crowns, and probably the
best bet for your money. You have more
strength than the resin based, much of the strength of the metal crowns, but
they look like real teeth.
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