Dental Crowns Pt. 2

Have you ever wondered what steps are involved in getting a dental crown? From the patient’s point of view a crown is not much different than a filling, but they do take longer. They are not painful or scary. Following is the basic procedure for a crown.

Getting a crown usually takes two visits. The first visit involves shaping the tooth and putting on a temporary crown. You are being numbed up, because the crown has to be a certain thickness to maintain its durability, the tooth material is removed to make room for the required thickness of the crown. The tooth is shaped so the crown will fit properly over the top of it. If the tooth is missing a portion of the crown a post may be added for stability.

Next, an impression of the tooth is made and sent to an outside laboratory that will manufacture the crown, which can take up to three weeks. In the meantime, the dentist places a temporary crown, which is usually made out of plastic or metal, over the tooth to protect it while waiting for the permanent crown to arrive. The temporary crown is cemented in place.

When the permanent crown arrives a second visit is scheduled.  If you are very sensitive you may be numbed up, but this is not always needed. The temporary crown is removed and the permanent crown fitted.  Your bite will be checked to make sure the crown fits properly. Once you and the dentist feel it fits right, then it is cemented in place and the procedure is done.

There is a new type of crown called Cerec.  Cerac eliminates a few of those steps, the best of which is that two to three week waiting period! Cerec (Chaiside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics),a company specializing in ceramic restorations, has a system called “Computer-assisted-design-Computer-assisted-manufactured” or CAD-CAM that makes it possible for the Cerec dentist to make the crown right there in his office in about 20 minutes, so it completely does away with the need for that second visit.

As far as cost, there is really not much difference between a Cerec crown and a traditionally made crown, but a Cerec crown does have a few advantages over a porcelain covered metal crown. First, and probably the biggest advantage is the time it takes to manufacture the crown, which allows it to be completed all in one visit. Second, because it is manufactured out of a single block of ceramic, it is very durable and long-lasting. Third, because of the precision of digital measurements, more of the natural tooth is maintained. Fourth, the look of ceramic is cosmetically more natural-looking. The disadvantages of a ceramic crown is that it takes specialized training on the part of the dentist and not all are experts in this field, so finding a highly skilled Cerec dentist may not be easy at this time, depending on where you live.