Dental Crown Treatment Process
Your dentist will shape your teeth in order to make space for the crown. The tooth will be built up to create retention for the crown if significant tooth structure has been removed due to decay. After the teeth shaping process, your dentist will take an impression (either analogue or digital) of your teeth. Our team sends this impression to a state-of-the-art dental laboratory where highly skilled and trained dental technicians will professionally fabricate the restoration.
At Dental Implants & Aesthetics, we use our own dental laboratory – the Dental Lab Southport – which is located next to our practice. The Lab uses the latest CAD/CAM technology and advanced techniques to construct dental crowns. During your next appointment, your dentist will bond the crown to the tooth with a suitable adhesive systems.
Which types of dental crowns do exist?
A crown can be crafted from materials that match the colour and shade of the surrounding teeth. Factors such as the location of the affected tooth, the condition of the tooth, and the aesthetic goals the patient would like to achieve determine the type of the crown a patient needs. Commonly, we use conservative partial coverage crowns to restore function and aesthetics. The two most common types of crowns are metal-ceramic crowns and all-ceramic crowns.
Metal-Ceramic Crowns
Metal-ceramic crowns, also called PFM (porcelain fused to metal) crowns, are a type of crown that has a metal sub-structure for reinforcement. The overlaying porcelain is fused over the metal. These are the most traditional and well-studied fixed restorations. Overall, they offer high aesthetics with superior longevity.
All-Ceramic Crowns
All-ceramic crowns consist solely out of porcelain (ceramic). Instead of metal, these crowns use a type of high-strength ceramic material as a sub-structure. This high strength ceramic can be Zirconia or Lithium Disilicate. Moreover, all-ceramic crowns offer superior aesthetics and under circumstances offer longevity comparable to the PFM crowns.
