When your dentist tells you you need a dental crown, it is generally because one of your permanent teeth has become damaged due to decay, injury, or disease. Your dentist uses crowns to strengthen the covered tooth, prevent further tooth damage, and improve the tooth's appearance. Crowns come in various materials, and your choice often depends on the crown's location and your personal preference. Each material has pros and cons. Here are a few of them.
Full Metal Crowns
If you are looking for one of the best long-term materials on the market, you may want to choose a full metal crown. Full metal crowns do not chip, are easy to remove, and tolerate the most bite and chewing forces.
Full metal crowns include several different materials. Some of these include:
- Gold
- Silver
- Stainless Steel
Full metal crowns have been popular for a long time for back out-of-sight molars but are some people's choice for their front teeth. Your dentist will often recommend stainless steel crowns for your children or elderly patients as they can prefabricate these, reducing the time the patient spends in the chair.
Porcelain and Ceramic Crowns
One of the most natural-looking choices when it comes to crowns are porcelain and ceramic crowns. Your dentist can construct these in various colors, sizes, and colors to match your surrounding teeth. This flexibility makes this choice ideal for your front or visible teeth.
Porcelain and ceramic crowns are also perfect for anyone with metal allergies since they include no metal. These materials are also very crack resistant, making them a great long-term choice.
Porcelain-Fused Metal Crowns
If you are looking for the best of both worlds, consider porcelain-fused metal or PFM crowns. PFM crowns are specifically porcelain-fused-to-gold crowns. These offer many advantages, such as being gentle to your opposing teeth, wearing down slowly over your natural tooth, and the appearance of your natural tooth. If a PFM ever cracks or fractures, it provides the same level of protection for the underlying tooth you would get with a full metal crown.
Zirconia Crowns
Although Zirconia has been around for a long time, it is one of the new materials on the dental market. Because of Zirconia's properties of hardness and elasticity, it is an excellent material for dental crowns.
Most dentists can form, shape, and cut Zirconia in their office, meaning they can often fabricate your dental crown chair-side from dental scans. This ability means time savings for everyone involved and fewer dental visits for you.
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