Gold crown to strengthen back tooth.
A crown is a tooth-shaped “cap” that is placed over a tooth – covering the tooth to restore its shape and size, strength, and/or to improve its appearance.
The crowns, when cemented into place, fully encase the entire visible portion of a tooth that lies at and above the gum line. A dental crown may be needed in the following situations:
- 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 discoloured teeth
- To cover a dental implant
There are many types of crown, which can be made, all of which have advantages and disadvantages these include:
1. Porcelain Bonded to Metal
The substructure of these crowns is of a dark precious metal with porcelain bonded to the metal. This type of crown is used where the crowns are subject to heavy biting forces and porcelain by itself would not be strong enough. Their downside though is that they do tend to show a dark line around the gum line which aesthetically is not the best thing. They also do not reflect the light as well as All Porcelain Crowns, and can appear yellow and false.
2. Gold Crowns
Compared with other crown types, less tooth structure needs to be removed with gold crowns, and tooth wear to opposing teeth is kept to a minimum. Gold crowns withstand biting and chewing forces well and probably last the longest in terms of wear down. Also, they rarely chip or break. The metallic colour is the main drawback. Metal crowns are a good choice for out-of-sight molars.
3. All Ceramic Crowns
These have fantastic properties. They reflect light in such a way that they do not appear as “false teeth” but look real and alive. They contain no dark metal so there is no chance of a dark line appearing around the neck of the crown.
All ceramic crowns are an excellent choice for front teeth.
