Dental Crowns - Zebulon, NC Dentist
Crowns are one of the most versatile dental restorations available. They provide a natural-looking, affordable and attractive solution for many of the most common cosmetic and general dentistry problems. They are also widely used to replace missing teeth as part of a bridge. Crowns are designed to match the texture and color of your natural teeth, and can improve the quality of your smile without drastically altering the characteristics that make it unique. Timothy R. Creech, DDS Family Dentistry in Zebulon, NC offers a full range of dentistry services for patients including dental crowns.
Restore Your Smile with Crowns
Sometimes subtle cosmetic imperfections like chips, cracks, excessive spacing and tooth discolorations are enough to make you fall out of love with your smile over time. Crowns are literally a cap that is placed over a damaged tooth to fix cosmetic imperfections, or restore tooth surface lost to trauma or decay. In addition to fixing cosmetic problems, crowns can help to strengthen a tooth damaged by decay or trauma. If a cavity is too large to fix with a standard dental filling, a crown is used to restore the lost tooth surface and save the tooth from possible extraction. Crowns are also commonly used to seal and strengthen a tooth after root canal treatment.
Process For Getting a Dental Crown
Everyone’s teeth are different shapes and sizes, so dental restorations must be made to accommodate these unique differences. Unlike fillings which apply the restorative material directly into your mouth, a crown is fabricated away from your mouth. Your crown is created in a lab from your unique tooth impression which allows a dental laboratory technician to examine all aspects of your bite and jaw movements. Your crown is then sculpted just for you so that your bite and jaw movements function normally once the crown is placed.
After our Zebulon, NC dentist prepares your existing tooth, the crown is "cemented" onto the existing tooth and fully covers the portion of your tooth above the gum line. In effect, the crown becomes your tooth's new outer surface. Crowns can be made of porcelain, metal, or both. Porcelain crowns are most often preferred because they mimic the translucency of natural teeth and are very strong.
How Long Do Dental Crowns Last?
Crowns are designed to be durable and withstand the every day strains and pressure that we experience with natural teeth, like biting, chewing and habits like teeth grinding during sleep. The lifespan of a crown will vary from person to person, but the general range is anywhere between 5 - 15 years. Some can last much longer, while others may need maintenance after just a few years.