Decatur, AL Porcelain Crowns
Porcelain crowns have seen tremendous improvements in recent years allowing you to preserve and protect your natural tooth and attain a beautiful smile.
When Are Crowns Needed?
There are several reasons you may need a crown. Perhaps you have a cavity that covers a large amount of your tooth making it susceptible to breaking. Or, maybe your tooth has already cracked or broken and needs added support in order to retain the tooth. Regardless of the reason, the restoration approach is pretty much the same.
Brief Background on Crowns
Porcelain crowns have been around for some time and are a great way to keep your natural teeth. Drs. Drake and Wallace will tell you that keeping your natural teeth is the ultimate goal and whenever possible your teeth should be preserved.
Porcelain by itself isn’t strong enough to serve as a crown. When it was first used, the porcelain was fused to metal to make it strong enough. Many dentists still use these crowns. These porcelain-fused-to-metal (PFM) crowns are strong and work well, but have a few limitations. Natural teeth are translucent. With a metal backing, there is no way a porcelain-fused-to-metal crown can be translucent. To cover the metal backing, opaquers have to be applied under the porcelain, creating an artificial appearance. Also, at the gumline, some of the metal tends to show through, creating a dark line there.
Along Come All-Porcelain Crowns
Drs. Drake and Wallace offer all-porcelain crowns. These all-porcelain crowns have increased strength and are strong enough to even be used on back teeth. In addition, bonding technologies have improved allowing us to bond the all-porcelain crown to your tooth sans any metal.
All-porcelain crowns also have a translucency which makes them a great choice over other types of crowns. This translucency, coupled with the ability to match the color to your natural tooth shade, means that the result will be a very natural-looking smile. And, because there is not metal in the crown, there is no risk of a dark line appearing at your gumline.
When you’re ready to explore your options, give us a call. Or you may visit our request an appointment page.