What Material Is Best for Dental Crowns?

Dental crowns help protect and restore the shape of your teeth when fillings do not solve the problem. A crown is a cap placed on damaged teeth to cover them and doesn’t require any specific care or maintenance. Dental crowns can be made of various materials, including metal, porcelain, resin, and ceramic.

Porcelain crowns, in particular, have been proven to be highly durable and realistic, and they’re not prone to discoloration as crowns made out of other materials may be. While a porcelain crown does cost more up-front, it also lasts much longer than a crown made of a different material. The team at Nova Dental prefers porcelain crowns as they’re the most cost-effective for the patient in the long term and can enhance oral health for decades to come.

What Is a Dental Crown?

As already mentioned, a dental crown is a cap placed over a tooth to help protect or restore its shape. Although many people think of caps and crowns as different, they’re other names for the same thing. Dental professionals prefer ‘dental crown,’ while laypeople may use the term cap.

A crown is created by taking an impression of the affected tooth, and then the porcelain is molded to that impression to create as natural an illusion as possible. The impression will include the opposing tooth or teeth so that the crown won’t affect your bite pattern.

Crowns require a couple of appointments to get everything done. Impressions will be taken at your first appointment, and you’ll be fitted with a temporary crown. Once your permanent crown has been created, you’ll attend your second appointment, where the temporary crown is discarded, and the permanent crown is installed. Some filing or reshaping may be necessary once it’s applied to ensure that your bite pattern isn’t thrown off. Once the crown has been installed, you’re good to go—and if you’ve chosen a firm material such as porcelain, you likely won’t need your crown replaced for over 20 years.

Is Porcelain Best?

While there are many other materials that a crown can be made out of—metal, resin, ceramic—porcelain crowns are a perfect combination of natural appearance and longevity. A porcelain crown can last up to 25 years, unlike competing materials which require replacement a lot sooner.

In addition, porcelain crowns are nearly as strong as natural teeth enamel. After all, we only get one set of adult teeth—we want them to last as long as possible! That’s one of the reasons that porcelain is such an ideal material for creating crowns.

Do I Need a Dental Crown?

Your dentist recommended you get a crown. You may need it to protect your weak tooth from breaking. Parts of your tooth are already cracked. Crowns can help keep dental bridges in place! A broken or severely worn tooth can be restored with a dental crown.

If your dentist recommends dental crowns, consider a porcelain crown. For more information and installation and dental services, check out Nova Dental—because you deserve a place that cares!