Prosthetic crowns.
Loss of a big part of a tooth as a result of injury, carious lesions or after root canal treatment but also the need to change the shape or a colour of a tooth might all be indications to crown treatment.
A crown, made in a dental laboratory, can be installed on an own tooth or an implant. It is manufactured with the use of latest technology and thus allows perfect recreation of a tooth’s aesthetics and functionality. Such a reconstruction is more durable than any other tooth reconstruction that can take place in any dental office in a patient’s mouth.
A prosthetic crown’s thickness is between 1 – 2 mm. The dentist, while preparing a tooth for such a reconstruction, reduces it by the thickness of the new crown and then performs a silicon impression and sends it to the laboratory. After colour selection the technicians are preparing the crown that perfectly imitates a real tooth. Apart from aesthetics it also protects from damaging influence of bacteria.
A crow can change a tooth’s shape or colour adjusting it to other teeth. The final effect, however, depends on materials the crown is made of.
- The internal layer of the crown is responsible for its mechanical durability. Despite being internal, it plays an important role in achieving a perfect aesthetic result.
- The external layer of the crown is called a veneer. This layer is made from porcelain and is responsible for aesthetic adjustment of the crown.
The internal layer can be made of:
METAL
Basic, cheapest material. Since many patients display allergy to some of its ingredients, an interview with a patient is required before the decision is made. Its specific dark colour has a negative influence on the crown’s aesthetics. It specifically shows around the gum area, where, after a few years, a dark contour line tends to shows around the crown.GOLD
Very good material. It inhibits bacterial activity in the crown’s area and keeps our gums and entire periodontium healthy which prolongs life cycle of such a reconstruction. Gold allows a more precise fitting of the crown to the filed tooth and has an insignificant impact on aesthetics rendering its colour acceptable.ZIRCONIUM
The latest innovation. After scanning the filed tooth, the internal structure of the crown is designed on a computer. A digital milling cutter cuts from a zirconium block the designed structure. This process allows elimination of the liquid metal mold technique necessary in metal or gold crowns. It provides the best possible crown/tooth fitting. Zirconium is an extremely durable material showing full biocompatibility. No allergies are associated with its ingredients (used in orthopedics as hip endoprosthetics). Its biggest advantage is that it is the only know structure that is white and, even with porcelain on it, it transmits light in a similar way to a natural tooth. This makes a porcelain crown with zirconium framework a perfect imitation of a natural tooth.
Metal and gold crowns are easily noticeable, as they do not transmit light the way real teeth do.