What Are Dental Crowns?

A dental crown is a fabricated tooth restoration that fits over a compromised tooth like a crown or a cap. Its primary role is to restore the oral functionality of the patient, but it also serves the purpose of restoration of oral aesthetics.

Crowns are usually necessary when the patient undergoes root canal treatment for an infected tooth. This is an invasive treatment, which makes the tooth structure quite weak. Therefore, it becomes necessary to provide extra support and stability to the structure by placing a dental crown over it. The posterior teeth especially require a crown after root canal because the chewing forces are very strong in that area.

Dental crowns are also necessary in a situation where the tooth structure cannot be saved, and needs to be extracted and replaced with an implant. In such a case, the crown is placed over the titanium implant which acts like a tooth root. Millions of patients around the world are using crowns as an effective replacement for missing teeth.

Nowadays there are highly advanced porcelain materials used to make dental crowns to match with the rest of the teeth. This restoration is used for the front teeth that are visible from outside. However, gold crowns may be used for the posterior teeth because they are not visible to the outsiders. Gold is the strongest and most biocompatible material available for crowns. With skillful placement of the crown and a superior crown material and fabrication, the restoration can last for many years without any difficulty. Gold restorations may even last for a lifetime.

Normally a crown restoration takes two visits of the patient to the dentist's office. On the first visit the dental impressions are taken, and a temporary crown is placed over the tooth. It takes about two weeks for the crown to be fabricated in the laboratory. On the second visit, the tooth structure is prepared and the permanent crown is cemented into place.

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