Crowns

A crown is a restoration that covers all or the majority of a tooth. Crowns provide additional strength to teeth and can be used to alter the shape and /or colour of a tooth.

Once the tooth is prepared, an impression is made. This impression is sent to the dental laboratory where the technician will produce the crown on a model made from the impression. This model is an exact replica of the prepared tooth.

For the two weeks that it takes the technician to produce the crown, you will have a temporary crown fitted to the tooth.

At the fitting appointment, the temporary crown is removed and the new crown cemented or bonded in place.

A crown can be made of gold, porcelain or porcelain veneered to gold. There are also additional new materials such as alumina and zirconium which are similar to porcelain in appearance but significantly stronger. For back teeth gold is still the 'gold standard' - its strength and ductility make it the ideal material for use on the molars, which are subjected to extremely large forces when chewing. Some people object to the yellow colour of the gold, and for them we usually recommend one of the new porcelains or a porcelain-veneered- to-gold crown.