When You Need a Dental Crown
Dental crowns are one of the most versatile restorative dentistry procedures. We can use them for a wide range of applications in both restorative and cosmetic dentistry, which includes:
Decayed teeth- Worn teeth
- Cracked teeth
- Teeth with large fillings
- Teeth weakened by decay
- Infected teeth treated with root canal therapy
- Discolored teeth
- Reshaping a small or poorly formed tooth
- Supporting a dental bridge
- Topping a dental implant
A dental crown is like a sheath of advanced ceramic that slides directly over your natural tooth. It covers the entire exterior of the tooth down below the gum line. Essentially, it gives you an entirely new surface to your tooth. This lets the dental crown beautify, strengthen, and protect your tooth all at the same time. Meanwhile, your tooth’s sturdy root supports the dental crown and helps it stay in place.
The strength of a dental crown lets it help with replacing missing teeth. A dental crown can either use your natural tooth as a support for a dental bridge, or it can top a dental implant as a replacement tooth.
Benefits of Same-Day Crowns
If you need to get a dental crown, you might choose the traditional dental crown procedure, but there are many reasons to get same-day crowns. With same-day crowns, you will enjoy:
Convenient scheduling- Less time spent at the dentist’s office
- No need for temporary crowns
- Great aesthetics
- Outstanding fit
- Long-lasting results
We know your schedule is busy, and it’s often hard enough to schedule one dental visit for your crown, let alone two. Same-day dental crowns are easy on your schedule, letting you take care of your dental needs without putting too many things on the back burner.
It’s not just the pain of scheduling a second appointment that matters: it’s your time. With less time spent going back and forth and less time at our office, you will find it easier to get everything done while taking care of your teeth.
Another problem with the traditional dental crown procedure is having to wear a temporary crown. Temporary crowns look okay, but they’re just strong enough to last until your permanent crown arrives–usually. Temporary crown failures happen, especially when your permanent crown gets delayed in shipping, and that can be a nuisance to your schedule and potentially damage your tooth.
Same-day crowns are as attractive as lab-made crowns–or better. When Dr. Siegel is responsible for making the crown from start to finish, he can control the aesthetics better and ensure it looks perfect in your mouth, including some last-minute color adjustments that can’t be achieved with lab-made crowns. If a lab-made crown doesn’t look right, you either have to accept it or send it back and wait another two weeks for the replacement.
With the precision of modern scanning and milling equipment, your same-day crown will fit perfectly. The fit for same-day crowns is as good as or better than the fit for crowns made at the lab.
Perhaps most importantly, same-day crowns are as strong as lab-made crowns. In practical use, they last just as long. You can expect a decade or more of good use out of your same-day crown.
How the Same-Day Crown Process Works
The same-day crown process is a marvel of computer-aided design / computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM).
However, the process starts like the traditional crown process. First, Dr. Siegel will evaluate your tooth and determine whether a crown is necessary. Then he will prepare the tooth for a crown. This means removing tooth structure damaged by decay or trauma, as well as old filling material that’s unnecessary now. In a root canal treatment, Dr. Siegel will also remove the living material at the center of the tooth, called the pulp.
Once the tooth is prepared and shaped, Dr. Siegel will use the Planmeca Emerald digital scanner to create a 3D digital model of your mouth. He will use this model to design a new crown that fits over the treated tooth and fits with the rest of your bite. He then sends the design of the dental crown to the milling machine. He loads a ceramic block of the proper color and material into the machine. The machine carves this block into the designed shape. Polishing, finishing, staining, and/or firing might complete the process, depending on the situation. Then the crown is ready to place.
After testing for fit and color, Dr. Siegel will bond the new crown in place, and you’re done.
Get Same-Day Crowns at Dental Excellence of Blue Bell
Are you looking for a dentist who knows how to get outstanding results with same-day crowns? With 25 years’ restorative dentistry experience and more than a decade of experience with CAD/CAM dentistry, Dr. Ken Siegel has helped hundreds of people get beautiful, comfortable, and long-lasting dental crowns in a single visit.
To get your same-day crown, please call (610) 272-0828 today for an appointment with Dr. Siegel at Dental Excellence of Blue Bell.
