Dental Crowns
Crowns & bridges are fixed prosthetic devices that are cemented onto existing teeth or implants by a dentist or prosthodontist. Crowns are used most commonly to entirely cover or "cap" a damaged tooth or cover an implant. Bridges are commonly used to cover a space if you're missing one or more teeth.
You need a crown where a tooth has been badly damaged by decay, heavily restored by fillings, or when a tooth has been treated endodontically (root canal treatment). These teeth are almost always restored with an indirect restoration like a crown because they have lost a great deal of tooth structure from fracture, decay, or the drilling process.
The third reason a crown might need to be placed is that the tooth needs to be used as an abutment (anchor) for the bridge to replace missing teeth. Crowns are made from many different types of materials. If you have any known sensitivity to metals, please let us know prior to treatment. If you would prefer that no metals be used in the construction of the crowns, please let us know. We will discuss your options prior to the preparation of the tooth (or teeth).
