Dental Crowns in Fairhope

What Are Dental Crowns?

Dental crowns are caps for your teeth made of various materials such as stainless steel, gold, ceramic, porcelain, zirconia, or porcelain fused to metal. A crown is a durable protective covering for vulnerable, damaged, or aesthetically displeasing teeth. 

Porcelain crowns blend in with the natural teeth to look like a real tooth. When a tooth becomes structurally weakened, it needs to be covered to withstand the force of chewing. Crowns can also be used in tooth restorations to replace a tooth entirely. Schedule a consultation with a Fairhope dentist at Living Oaks Dental today!

What to Expect at Your Dental Crowns Appointment

During your consultation, Dr. Gene Brabston will examine your teeth to ensure that you’re in good oral health and don’t need any decay removed from the tooth. It’s also important to ensure that you have a tooth strong and stable enough to support a dental crown.

If your tooth is deemed adequate for a dental crown, a small amount of your natural enamel will be filed down to fit the crown on top of the tooth. If there is not enough natural tooth structure, the tooth may need to be built back up with a filling

Once your tooth has been prepared for the dental crown, impressions will be taken and sent to a dental lab that will create the perfect dental crown that will appear natural and blend in with your other teeth. A temporary crown will be placed until the permanent crown is ready.

It will take a couple of weeks for the permanent crown to be complete. Once it’s ready, you’ll return to our office to have the temporary crown removed and the permanent crown fitted and cemented into place.

What Issues Can Dental Crowns Treat?

Chipped or Fractured Tooth

If your tooth has been damaged due to dental trauma or injury and your tooth has been significantly cracked, chipped, or broken, a dental crown is the best option to protect your tooth from further damage, and cover an exposed tooth root. 

While minor chips and cracks can be treated with dental bonding, more severe fractures will need to be covered with a dental crown because an exposed root will cause severe pain and significant cracks will not heal on their own. The tooth will no longer have the structural integrity to withstand the force of chewing like your other teeth.

Weakened Tooth

A vulnerable or weak tooth could be a tooth with a large filling, a tooth that has received a root canal, a tooth that has been severely decayed, or a tooth that has become worn down from teeth grinding. 

These issues can cause a tooth to become loose, less stable, or too weak to chew. A crown is a common last step in a root canal procedure because the tooth will be much weaker and susceptible to tooth sensitivity.

Cosmetic Reasons

Crowns can be used for cosmetic reasons as well as restorative dental reasons. If you have a severely discolored tooth but cannot afford veneers or your tooth is unresponsive to whitening treatments, an all-porcelain or porcelain-fused-to-metal crown can cover your stained tooth to give your smile the pearly white appearance you’ve always dreamed of. 

This is especially useful when one tooth is more discolored than the rest, due to injury or otherwise. A crown can also be used to cover up a tooth that is oddly shaped or aesthetically displeasing.

Tooth Replacement

Dental crowns are commonly used in tooth restorations such as dental bridges and dental implants. A dental bridge uses two dental crowns placed over the abutment teeth that suspend a pontic in the missing tooth space and all the artificial teeth are connected. A dental implant involves inserting a titanium screw into the jaw bone, then attaching an abutment, and finally, a dental crown which acts as the tooth replacement.