What is a dental crown?

A large number of patients are shocked to hear from their treating doctor about the need to put a crown, and some even think that they are losing their tooth completely.

A crown is essentially a cap that replicates the anatomical shape of your tooth. Modern technologies allow making dental crowns so that you will not feel any difference with your natural tooth. Our center manufactures any type of metal-free crowns digitally, including:

• Ceramic crowns
• Zirconia crowns
• E-max crowns
• Hybrid plastic crowns

When are dental crowns placed?

• When the tooth is destroyed by more than 50% (for example, when the tooth's lateral walls and chewing surface are destroyed)
• When it is necessary to increase the height of the teeth due to their strong abrasion
• In dead teeth (with removed nerves); such teeth become fragile due to the lack of nutrition, and root fractures can occur
• When it is impossible to qualitatively restore a destroyed tooth with a filling (for example, when the tooth is destroyed below the gum level by 1 mm or more)
• Changing the color of the tooth, which cannot be solved by teeth whitening (may be observed in dead teeth, with prolonged intake of certain medications, congenital changes in the color of teeth)
• As an alternative to braces (if justified); for example, when closing gaps between teeth, correcting improper tooth position or shape
• Replacing already placed crowns for a number of reasons (not aesthetically pleasing, inflammation of the gums around the crown, metal intolerance)

Stages of making a crown in one day

1. Examination, X-ray or computed tomography of the tooth to determine the need for additional treatment of root canals or replacement/installation of reinforcing elements (this is necessary to identify poorly filled canals or installed pins).
2. Correction of identified defects (treatment of root canals, if necessary - carried out under a microscope, removal of remnants of old poor-quality fillings).
3. Scanning of the tooth on which the crown will be installed (this is like taking a small intraoral camera shot).
4. Making the crown by milling on the CEREC machine within 10-15 minutes.
5. Fixation of the finished ceramic crown on the tooth.

If it is necessary to make a zirconia crown, the manufacturing time takes about 5 hours, as the zirconia crown undergoes the stage of sintering the zirconia (fusing at high temperatures).

Making a crown in one day using the digital CEREC system allows to reduce patient visits from 4-5 to 1, guaranteeing perfect accuracy of crown fit and compliance with the patient's maxillofacial anatomy.