Dental Crowns

What is a Crown?

Crowns are for strength.  When a tooth is cracking or broken, simply placing a filling won?t restore the original strength.  To endure the high stresses of chewing food year after year, damaged teeth often require the full reconstruction that a crown offers.  

A crown is a ?sleeve? that covers the visible part of the tooth and returns the strength that a filling can?t.  It is made outside the mouth in a laboratory or, at Centercare, by a computer, and is cemented permanently on the tooth.  The shape and color of a crown is the same as the original tooth and it is not apparent to the eye that the tooth has been altered.  An x-ray, though, would show that the tooth has been completely rebuilt.

Partial Crowns

If part of a tooth is still sound and doesn?t require treatment, the reconstruction can be limited to only the part that is damaged.  This is known as an onlay or a � crown.

Tooth Symptoms

Broken teeth are usually obvious to patients.  Cracked teeth aren?t.  These often are sensitive to pressure or temperature, yet appear normal from the outside. If this sounds familiar, give us a call.  A crown may be the answer.  They are attractive and hard-working ways to keep your mouth healthy.