A crown is indicated in several instances. In general, when a substantial area of your natural tooth is missing because of a large cavity or tooth breakage there is not always enough healthy remaining tooth left to hold the filling in place. Placing large fillings in such weakened teeth may cause the filling to fall out and further tooth fracture which results in a need for a crown anyway or even loss of the tooth.  It is common to see crack lines around large amalgam (silver-mercury)fillings. In fact, broken teeth with large silver fillings are the second most common emergency in my practice.

Teeth that are weakened by amalgam fillings often have vertical crack lines as well as diagonal crack lines under the cusps. When left untreated, these cracks can spread deeper into the tooth. Cracks that enter the nerve cause sever pain, nerve death and the need for Root Canal Treatment. Some cracks can spread deep into the tooth and cause the tooth to split, requiring gum surgery or extraction.

A crown serves as a protective restoration to hold the tooth together and prevent further breakage. This is why teeth with cracks or fracture lines require a crown.  Think of an old fashioned wood barrel with metal rings around it. The rings serve to hold the barrel together just like a crown holds the tooth together.

Back teeth are designed to crush food and are exposed to the largest forces. When a back tooth has hard Root Canal Treatment it is severely weakened and often requires a protective crown to hold it together.

Another reason to place a crown when large areas of the tooth are missing is to provide ideal shape to the restored tooth. It is technically difficult to create ideal tooth shape with a free-hand placed filling. Poorly shaped fillings can create areas of food entrapment or ledges which may lead to further tooth decay or Gum Disease.Typically a crown requires 2 -4 office visits to complete. However, an innovative technology that has been evolving over the past 20 years is the CEREC CAD-CAM system. This allows the dentist to make a strong, All- Porcelain crown in just one visit. This saves you valuable time, there is no need for a temporary that may fallout and the need for multiple shots at every visit is eliminated. 

We are proud to provide this amazing technology at State of the Art Comfort Dentistry to our patients. To learn more about CEREC crowns you can visit www.crowninonevisit.com.