Dental crowns to rejuvenate a smile
Dental crowns are used when a tooth’s colour and structure are no longer harmonious and need correction, something that is often the case with teeth which have become worn down.
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Dentists usually generally carry out a 'coronoplasty' procedure: they keep the original tooth and reinforce it using a crown. These crowns are available in white porcelain and recently zirconium oxide, and not just grey metal, a major advance in aesthetics. Some even have their crowns made in gold!
Grey metal fillings should also become a thing of the past thanks to white porcelain too. “Besides these mercury-based fillings having harmful consequences on health as some believe, they also look very unattractive,” explains Dr Miara. “We now replace them with tooth-coloured composites.”
The dental crown technique
Crowns are veritable made-to-measure prostheses which can be made to perfectly match the rest of your teeth. The colour is chosen from a colour chart. This mixture of mineral particles and highly solid resin can also be used to repair a broken tooth, for example.
But if you manage to salvage a piece of broken tooth, keep it in milk and go straight to your dentist’s surgery. A bonding agent that sticks broken teeth back is now on the market!
Like a hollow tooth which is fixed onto the original one, a crown not only changes the original tooth’s colour but also its shape and position. Crowns are ideal for stained, prominent or poorly positioned teeth. Crowns can also undergo whitening treatments like real teeth.
Making and fitting a dental crown will usually entail a couple of visits to your dentist.
- Disadvantages: Needs to be redone approximately every 10-15 years depending on the quality of the crown.
- The cost: Between £300-£1000 per tooth depending on the skill of the dentist and the material the crown is made of.
Copyright © 2012 Doctissimo
Posted 14.02.2012
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