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 Crowns |
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What are crowns? |
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Crowns preserve the functionality of damaged teeth. They may be used in the following situations:
- If your tooth has undergone significant decay and there is not enough tooth structure remaining to support a filling,
- If a large portion of your tooth has fractured and it cannot be built up using traditional composite bonding techniques,
- If you have had a dental implant to replace a missing tooth, a crown will be fitted to the abutment of the titanium implant.
- Following root canal treatment a crown is often needed to strengthen the tooth.
- If you grind your teeth and have a poor diet, acid erosion may reduce your teeth to a point where the only option available is to crown them.
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For a weak tooth or one
with a large filling, a crown will protect the tooth and prevent
any further chipping or cracking. Because of the heavy chewing
forces placed on the back teeth, the addition of a crown is
often a preferred course of treatment to a large filling.
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The crowns may be made
completely of porcelain, porcelain fused to metal or even gold.
Porcelain fused to metal (PFM) crowns and all porcelain crowns
(AP) are tooth coloured crowns. PFM crowns offer the best
combination of aesthetics and durability. PFM dental crowns are
usually used to restore back teeth where the forces of chewing
and grinding are strongest. AP crowns are the most aesthetic and
are used primarily for front teeth where the need for strength
is not as critical. AM (Gold) dental crowns are the most durable
and offer the most precise fit.
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Gold
crown |
Porcelain fused to metal crowns |
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All porcelain crowns |
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What are bridges? |
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Dental bridges are false teeth anchored on neighbouring teeth in order to replace one or more missing teeth. The false tooth is known as a pontic and is fused in between two crowns that serve as anchors by attaching to the teeth on each side of the false tooth and thereby bridging them together. |
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Before |
After |
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There are three main types of dental bridges: |
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1.
Traditional Fixed Bridge |
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This is the most commonly used type of bridge and consists of a pontic fused between two
porcelain crowns that are anchored on neighbouring teeth or
implants. The pontic is usually made of either porcelain fused to metal or ceramics. These are fixed and cannot be removed. |
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2. Resin Bonded Bridges or Maryland bonded bridges |
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These are opted for when the gap to be filled is in between the
front teeth and when the adjacent teeth on either side of the
missing tooth are strong and healthy without large fillings.
The false tooth is made of porcelain and is fused to metal
“wings” that are bonded to the adjacent teeth using resin that
is hidden from view. |
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3. Cantilever Bridges |
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These are opted for in areas such as the front teeth that are subjected to lower bite forces, commonly with the canine tooth as the anchor tooth. Cantilever bridges are used when there are teeth present only one side of the space, where the false tooth is anchored to one or more adjacent teeth on one side. |
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