Your teeth are remarkably strong; in fact, tooth enamel is even harder than bone! That said, years of withstanding the daily forces of biting and chewing can cause a tooth to wear down, chip, or crack. Since teeth cannot heal themselves once they have been damaged, it’s essential to seek treatment, which we can provide here at Carlson Dental Group. Our expert dentists take great pride in offering lifelike dental crowns that restore the function of a damaged tooth while also preserving its remaining natural structure. We can even provide same-day crowns with our CEREC system. If you’re ready to make your broken tooth look and feel like new again, call our team today to find out if dental crowns in Jacksonville, FL are right for you!
A dental crown is a cap-like restoration that fits snugly over the entire section of a tooth that is visible above the gums. This part of the tooth is known as the crown, which is where this treatment gets its name. Crowns are designed to give a tooth full chewing function again while shielding it from additional damage.
Although dental crowns were traditionally made from gold, silver, and other precious metals, our Carlson Dental Group team typically uses tooth-colored materials instead, such as porcelain. These solutions allow us to customize your crown, ensuring it seamlessly blends in with your adjacent teeth.
The process of getting a traditional dental crown takes two appointments. One involves preparing the tooth, taking impressions, sending the data to a separate dental lab, and placing a temporary crown. The final crown won’t be ready for a few weeks, so the second visit won’t occur until then.
However, your dentist in Jacksonville may determine that you qualify for a same-day CEREC crown instead. This process is much more convenient, as it only requires you to schedule one appointment. During this visit, we use digital impression technology to capture measurements of your mouth, eliminating the need for uncomfortable, foul-tasting putty. Then, our computer uses these impressions to design a mold. It sends the mold to our in-house milling machine, which creates your crown from a block of pressed dental ceramic. Once that’s finished, we’ll make sure your crown looks and feels great before bonding it to your tooth. The whole process should only take about an hour or two!
Dental crowns can benefit your smile in many ways, including:
Want to know more about dental crowns in Jacksonville? Our team has collected some of the most common questions about this popular restoration and answered them below. Take a look at the information below, then give our office a call if you have a compromised tooth that needs protection.
No. Technically, it’s impossible for a crown itself to develop cavities. However, a tooth underneath a crown is still susceptible to decay. In fact, a crowned tooth has about the same risk of decay as an uncrowned tooth. Poor oral hygiene allows bacteria and plaque to form around the gumline where the tooth meets the crown. They can then travel underneath the crown and wreak havoc on the underlying tooth. For this reason, it’s critical that you continue to practice excellent oral hygiene at home and see a dentist every six months for a checkup.
When placed by an experienced dentist in Jacksonville, a dental crown should be 100% safe. Tooth-colored crown materials like ceramic and zirconia contain zero toxins and metal crowns don’t contain mercury. This means there’s no reason to worry about toxicity when it comes to dental crowns. Some patients could have a minor allergic reaction to a particular metal alloy used in crowns. Be sure to tell your dentist if you’ve experienced allergies or sensitivities to metal in the past. They may recommend a metal-free crown instead. If you already have a crown and are experiencing gum irritation, redness, or swelling in the area, give our office a call right away. These could all be signs of an allergic reaction.
No matter what material your crown is made of, it cannot be whitened like your teeth can. Many people do not realize this, but tooth enamel actually has tiny pores through which bleaching gels can enter and break apart stains. Restorations do not have microscopic pores, so your crown should always remain the same color. The metal-free crowns we utilize are designed to blend in with your surrounding teeth as closely as possible. To minimize the risk of your natural teeth becoming discolored and making your crown stick out in your smile, you may want to get your teeth whitened before your crown is placed. That way, your restoration will be matched to the ideal shade of your teeth.
The lifespan of dental crowns in Jacksonville may vary depending on the material the crown is made from. While metal crowns generally have a longer lifespan than metal-free ones, that’s not always the case. On average, you can expect your crown to last somewhere between five and 15 years, regardless of its material. The longevity of your crown also depends on individual factors such as your diet, oral hygiene, and habits and lifestyle choices like smoking, nail-biting, eating ice, grinding teeth, etc. Finally, the location of your crown also may affect its lifespan. Crowns on front teeth may last slightly longer than crowns on molars because they’re not subjected to as much wear and tear from chewing.