A Dental crown (or cap) is a tooth-shaped “cap” that is placed over a tooth — to cover the tooth to restore its shape and size, strength, and improve its appearance. A crown protects and strengthens tooth structure that cannot be restored with fillings or other types of restorations.
You might have been told you need a crown. Why not a filling instead? A crown does a better job at protecting a tooth from fracturing than a filling does. So, if there’s a lot of tooth structure missing or a large filling is being removed or there are inherent fracture lines or cracks in a tooth, a crown is a much better option.
A dental crown may be needed under the following circumstances:
Very few dental offices can do a crown from start to finish in one visit, but with a CAD/CAM machine we are able to provide same-day crowns at our office.
For any of you that have had crowns made in the past, you remember the dentist preparing the teeth, taking a messy impression, making a temporary crown, and then you needed to return for the final seating of the crown.
With CAD/CAM instead of impressions, the prepared tooth is scanned with a camera. That information is transferred onto a computer software program where we design the crown. A porcelain block is carved down to that shape with a CAD/CAM milling machine which takes only about 12-18 minutes.
The CAD/CAM computer allows you to get your treatment done start-to-finish in one day. No more frustration regarding temporary crowns, no more extra visits to the dental office to reseat temporaries, no more additional time taken away from your day to deal with these issues.
Overall, we think it’s healthier to do this procedure from start to finish in one day.
