Dental Crowns in Post Office Square, Boston, MA
A dental crown is used to restore a tooth that is cracked or broken. It provides support for the tooth and allows it to function normally. Your Post Office Square dentist can create a custom crown that not only functions well but one that looks great, too!
What Is a Dental Crown?
A dental crown (or cap as it is commonly called) is like a hat that fits over a natural tooth. A crown can help:
- Strengthen the tooth
- Improve the appearance of a tooth (including the shade and shape of it)
- Improve your bite alignment
Why Is a Dental Crown Necessary?
Crowns are used to:
- Replace a large filling when there is little tooth structure remaining
- Support a large filling
- Protect a weak tooth from fracturing
- Restore a fractured tooth
- Support a tooth with a crack
- Reduce pain caused by cracked tooth syndrome
- Attach a bridge
- Cover a dental implant
- Cover a discolored tooth
- Cover a poorly shaped tooth
- Support a tooth that has had root canal treatment
How Is a Dental Crown Made?
There are two ways we can fabricate a crown.
The traditional way of making a crown involves taking an impression of the prepared tooth and sending it to a dental laboratory. The trained, skilled lab technician would use the impression to create a model of your teeth and form a custom crown off the model.
Lab fabricated crowns are made of:
- Gold
- Porcelain
- Porcelain fused to metal
After upwards of three weeks, the new crown would come back from the lab, and the patient would be required to come in for a second appointment for us to fit and deliver the crown.
A more modern approach to dental crowns is to utilize CAD/CAM technology. CAD stands for computer-aided design, while CAM stands for computer-aided manufacturing. Using this technology, we can design and manufacture a crown in our Post Office Square dental office.
Once your tooth has been prepared for a crown, we use an intraoral scanner to take a digital scan of the tooth. Using specialized software, the data from the scan generates a design for your crown. In essence, it creates a blueprint and guide so that a state-of-the-art milling machine can manufacture the crown.
The milling machine creates a precise crown that fits securely and looks beautiful.
The CAD/CAM process allows us to create a crown and deliver it on the same day as the crown prep. One appointment is all you need.
What Happens During a Dental Crown Preparation Appointment?
Your Post Office Square dentist will start by numbing the tooth and surrounding gum tissue. Using a dental handpiece, they will remove the enamel to make the tooth shorter and with a smaller circumference. This gives us plenty of clearance for the crown material, which needs to be so many millimeters thick in order to properly restore and protect the tooth.
Once the tooth is prepared, the dentist will gently push the gum tissue away by placing a cord into the gum pocket. The cord looks like thick floss.
Now, it is time to either take an impression for the lab or use the intraoral scanner.
If we are using a dental lab, we will send the impression to them and fabricate a temporary crown out of heavy-duty plastic.
If we are using the CAD/CAM milling machine, we will fabricate the crown, try it on, check the bite and the fit, and permanently cement it.
Form, Function, and Esthetics: Beautiful Crowns in Post Office Square
Our dental team wants to make sure you receive top-quality restorative care. This will help ensure good oral health and reduce your risk of dental decay, gum disease, and pain. We also want to make sure you receive restorations that look good to you – restorations that make you want to share your smile with the world. We will take the time to create crowns (or whatever other type of restorative work you need) that function well and look like healthy, natural teeth.
Are you experiencing tooth sensitivity? It could be a sign of cracked tooth syndrome. Contact us today at (617) 426-6011 to schedule an exam.
Request Appointment