Dental crowns are caps that go over the top of your tooth. Typically, dentists will use dental crowns to provide structure to decayed or damaged teeth. When you have a large cavity, your dentist may give you a crown rather than a filling.
Because your dentist drills out decay, your tooth can become a shell. Unfortunately, there won’t be enough of your tooth left to support. Therefore, the dental crown will sit over the remainder of the tooth, keeping it strong.
Dental crowns protect the delicate inner portion of your tooth. Inside your tooth, there are fragile nerves and blood vessels. If exposed to bacteria, you can experience pain and discomfort. Eventually, you can develop an infection. Dental crowns stabilize decayed teeth after root canals and dental fillings. Additionally, dental crowns can restore the look and function of your teeth after decay and trauma.
However, there are other ways that dentists use dental crowns.
Whiten Teeth
Whitening treatments are incredibly popular. While many types of at-home treatments are available, not everyone will find success in brightening their smiles. Some issues cannot be whitened with chemical whitening treatments. For example, getting hit in the mouth can cause bleeding deep within your tooth. While your tooth may still be healthy, the trauma may leave discoloration that won’t change with regular whitening.
When a chemical treatment cannot break down a stain, your dentist will have to use a different option. Instead, they can use a dental crown. Rather than lifting the stain, a dental crown will cover or camouflage the stain.
Reshape Worn Teeth
Worn teeth can make it difficult to chew your food properly. The shape of your teeth helps you tear and grind your food so that you can swallow safely. If the ridges are missing from your teeth, it makes chewing far more challenging.
Over time, your teeth can wear down due to age. Additionally, there are conditions that can speed up this process. For example, grinding your teeth (bruxism) is a condition where you grind your teeth. Typically, this behavior happens in your sleep, so you may not be aware of it. However, grinding your teeth can cause other problems as well. For example, the excess pressure can chip or break your teeth. You will need a dental crown for worn teeth or teeth with large breaks.
For some breaks, your dentist may use dental bonding. However, dental bonding is not as strong as dental crowns. Since crowns provide more structure, your dentist can use them to restore the shape of your back molars. However, the force of chewing can be too much for bonding. Therefore, you will need a dental crown.
Close Gaps
Many patients have gaps between their teeth. In some situations, orthodontic work is not necessary. However, the gaps need filling. Dentists can use dental crowns to close gaps between your teeth without using orthodontic appliances.