Crown and Bridge
Crown and Bridge
Crowns and bridges are full coverage restorations which are made from a variety of materials but most commonly ceramic or a combination of ceramic and zirconia. Crowns are aimed at protecting and rebuilding broken down and missing teeth to their original shape and colour. While bridges can replace missing teeth while restoring and protecting adjacent teeth.
A crown is a covering that fits completely around a tooth, used to support the tooth and decrease its chances of fracturing. This is especially true when a tooth has been heavily filled or root filled, and the remaining tooth is weak or insufficient to hold in a filling. Crowns are also used for aesthetic reasons, to change the shape or colour of a tooth.
Crowns can be made from various materials, but usually from pure ceramic, or ceramic fused to a zirconia substructure.
The length of time it takes to prepare a tooth for a crown depends on your individual situation, but usually a minimum of one hour is required in the dental chair. A digital scan is taken of the prepared tooth and sent to our in-house milling machine, which cuts the crown out of a pre-manufactured block of ceramic. The crown is then tried in the mouth and if the dentist is satisfied with the fit, the crown is bonded onto the tooth.
Generally a crown fails not because there is something wrong with the crown, but usually due to decay in the tooth around the crown, or changes to the rest of the mouth such as receding gums.
Depending on your situation, a crown should last over ten years if the supporting tooth stays healthy. It is important that you maintain regular dental checkups over this time, so that we can correct any problems that occur, at an early stage.
Bridges are used to replace missing teeth when there are sound teeth present on either side of the gap. The two supporting teeth are prepared for crowns in the dental chair, The length of time taken will depend on your individual situation. The dentist scans the teeth digitally and designs the bridge in the scanning software, Generally bridges of 3 teeth or less are milled in-house and you can have your bridge cemented on the same day. Larger bridges may need to be sent to a lab to have them manufactured. In this case the dentist will fabricate a temporary bridge.
About 2 weeks later, the dentist takes about 30 minutes to cement in the bridge. Your new bridge should last for over ten years as long as the supporting teeth stay healthy.