Enhance, Protect, and Conquer: How Dental Crowns Can Revolutionize Your Dental Health!
According to oral health experts, of all the body parts found in a human being, teeth are the strongest. The dental enamel, which is a white coat that covers teeth, shielding them from the harsh external environment, is believed to be stronger than the bones in your body. Despite being this strong, teeth still undergo wear and tear with time. This can be attributed to several reasons, such as tooth decay, oral trauma, or simply overuse. Such issues can lead to changes in your teeth’ size, shape, appearance, or functionality.
Fortunately, there’s no problem without a solution, and this is where dental crowns at Kids First Dental – Columbia come in to save the day.
Understanding Dental Crowns
Dental crowns are like protective customized caps placed on the top surfaces of damaged teeth to protect them from more damage.
Different types of teeth crowns are offered by our kids’ dentist in Columbia, and each has pros and cons. The most common types are:
- Metal crowns – Gold, nickel, palladium, and chromium are some of the metals used to make this type of tooth crown. Metal crowns have the longest life span compared to the rest, require little enamel removal, and rarely break or chip.
- Porcelain or all-ceramic crowns – Porcelain crowns best mimic natural teeth’ enamel appearance compared to the rest. They also provide a choice to persons with metal allergies.
- Pressed ceramic tooth crown – This dental crown is almost similar to a porcelain-fused-to-metal crown, but its core differs in that pressed ceramic crowns have a ceramic core.
- Porcelain-fused-to-metal– These crown types combine porcelain’s natural look and the metal’s durability, but they still have some drawbacks.
The Benefits of Dental Crowns
When you take your child to a kids’ dentist near you or to our pediatric dental office in Columbia for crowns, these are some of the benefits they are likely to get:
- Improved chewing function
- Enhancement of your smile appearance
- Restoration of decayed, broken, and worn-down teeth
- Protection of a damaged or weak tooth
- Improved enunciation and diction
The Dental Crown Procedure
Our kids’ dentist in 29210 will place a crown in two dental appointments:
- First Visit
During your first appointment, three key steps are a must, that is, tooth preparation, taking of dental impressions, and the placement of a temporary tooth crown. The dentist will file down some parts of the natural dental enamel and may use tooth filling to build up parts of your teeth to create space and a firm foundation for the new crowns.
Next, a physical or digital dental impression will be taken and sent to a lab technician to make a customized crown. Since the procedure of creating dental crowns will take about two or three weeks, a temporary acrylic or resin crown is fitted as you wait.
- Second Visit
This will take place once the final crowns are made and sent to your dentist’s office. During this visit, your dental practitioner will remove the temporary crown and check the fitting, shape, and color of the new crowns.Once satisfied with these specifics, the dentist bonds the crowns to the teeth with dental cement.
Caring for Dental Crowns
To prolong the lifespan of your crowns and to prevent potential problems, you need to:
- Practice ideal dental hygiene – Although crowns are artificial, they still need good hygiene care. Brushing teeth twice and flossing every night will help to increase their longevity.
- Break your bad habits – Habits that involve teeth, like biting nails or chewing on things other than food, potentially risk damaging crowned teeth.
- Avoid sticky, crunchy, or hard foods – Crowns are durable and strong but can still get damaged, especially from hard and sticky foods.
- Address bruxism – The pressure exerted during teeth grinding or bruxism damages crowns. You can address this by getting a nightguard.
Are Dental Crowns Right for You?
Dental crowns in Columbia, SC, are used by dentists to restore worn-down, weak, broken, or decayed teeth. They are also placed on dental implants to act as a natural tooth crown for the missing teeth getting replaced. Crowns can also cover cosmetic dental flaws like severely discolored or stained teeth. If you have such issues, then a crown may be just what you need.