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Posts for tag: crowns

By Advance Family Dental Care
March 04, 2021
Category: Dental Procedures
Tags: crowns  
HeresWhatYouNeedToKnowAboutDentalInsuranceandChoosingaCrown

Millions of Americans rely on dental insurance to help them better afford dental care. Depending on the benefit package, an insurance policy can be useful in restoring dental health compromised by disease or injury.

But how life-like that restoration may appear is often a secondary concern with many insurance plans. For example, dental insurance will pay for a crown restoration that restores function to a tooth, but not necessarily of the highest aesthetic quality for achieving a truly life-like appearance.

To be sure, not all dental crowns are the same. Some are all metal, usually gold or silver. Some are “hybrids,” made of an interior metal shell with an outer fused porcelain shell (porcelain-fused-to-metal or PFM). In recent years all -ceramic crowns made of stronger life-like ceramics have become the most popular.

The type of crown used will depend a great deal on the type and location of the tooth. Teeth on the back of the jaw that encounter greater biting forces and are not as noticeable in the smile may do better with a metal or PFM crown. Visible side and front teeth are more likely candidates for all-ceramic. Your dentist will give you your best options as it pertains to your dental needs and appearance.

There's also a difference in crown workmanship. Dental laboratories now use milling machinery that sculpts a crown from a single block of material. Although some final handwork by skilled technicians is still necessary, milling has streamlined the process—and the cost—for producing a crown of high functioning quality.

But crowns that achieve the most natural smile appearance require more in the way of artistic craftsmanship. This in turn can increase the crown's price—beyond what many dental policies agree to cover. You may then be faced with a decision: an insurance-covered functional crown with an acceptable level of life-likeness or a more life-like crown for which you may have to pay more out-of-pocket.

Your dentist can advise you on your best options for a crown restoration, also factoring in what your insurance will cover. Ultimately, though, you'll have to weigh the kind of smile you desire with your dental situation and finances.

If you would like more information on dental crown restorations, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Porcelain Dental Crowns.”

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By Advance Family Dental Care
October 16, 2019
Category: Dental Procedures
Tags: crowns  
NotallCrownsareAlike-orCosttheSame

All crowns are designed to restore functionality to a damaged tooth. But crowns can differ from one another in their appearance, in the material they’re made from, and how they blend with other teeth.

A crown is a metal or porcelain artifice that’s bonded permanently over a decayed or damaged tooth. Every crown process begins with preparation of the tooth so the crown will fit over it. Afterward, we make an impression of the prepared tooth digitally or with an elastic material that most often is sent to a dental laboratory to create the new crown.

It’s at this point where crown composition and design can diverge. Most of the first known crowns were made of metal (usually gold or silver), which is still a component in some crowns today. A few decades ago dental porcelain, a form of ceramic that could provide a tooth-like appearance, began to emerge as a crown material. The first types of porcelain could match a real tooth’s color or texture, but were brittle and didn’t hold up well to biting forces. Dentists developed a crown with a metal interior for strength and a fused outside layer of porcelain for appearance.

This hybrid became the crown design of choice up until the last decade. It is being overtaken, though, by all-ceramic crowns made with new forms of more durable porcelain, some strengthened with a material known as Lucite. Today, only about 40% of crowns installed annually are the metal-porcelain hybrid, while all-porcelain crowns are growing in popularity.

Of course, these newer porcelain crowns and the attention to the artistic detail they require are often more expensive than more traditional crowns. If you depend on dental insurance to help with your dental care costs, you may find your policy maximum benefit for these newer type crowns won’t cover the costs.

If you want the most affordable price and are satisfied primarily with restored function, a basic crown is still a viable choice. If, however, you would like a crown that does the most for your smile, you may want to consider one with newer, stronger porcelain and made with greater artistic detail by the dental technician. In either case, the crown you receive will restore lost function and provide some degree of improvement to the appearance of a damaged tooth.

If you would like more information on porcelain crown, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation.

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By Advance Family Dental Care
September 14, 2018
Category: Dental Procedures
Tags: crowns  
AreYouintheKnowAboutDentalCrownsTakeourTrueorFalseQuiz

So, you're about to have a tooth capped with a crown. Do you know what you need to know before you undergo this common dental procedure?

Here's a short true or false quiz to test your knowledge of dental crowns.

All crowns are the same. False — while all crowns have the same basic design — a life-like prosthetic tooth fitted over and bonded or cemented to a natural tooth — their compositions can vary greatly. Early metal crowns consisted mainly of gold or silver and are still used today. Porcelain-fused-to-metal (PFM) crowns — a metal interior for strength overlaid by a porcelain exterior for appearance — became popular in the latter 20th Century. Although still widely used, PFMs have been largely surpassed by newer all-ceramic materials that are stronger than past versions.

Crowns can differ in their artistic quality. True — all crowns are designed to replicate a natural tooth's function — in other words, enable the tooth to effectively chew again. But a crown's appearance can be a different story, depending on how much attention to detail and artistry goes into it. The higher the individual craftsmanship, the more lifelike it will appear — and the more expensive it can be.

With digital milling equipment, dental labs are obsolete. False — although technology exists that allows dentists to produce their own crowns, the equipment is not yet in widespread use.  The vast majority of crowns are still produced by a trained technician in a dental laboratory. And just as you base your choice of a dentist on your confidence in and respect for them, dentists look for the same thing in a dental lab — good, reliable and consistent results.

Your insurance may not cover what your dentist recommends. True — dental insurance will typically pay for a basic, functional crown. Aesthetics — how it will look — is a secondary consideration. As a result, your policy may not cover the crown your dentist recommends to function properly and look attractive. A new crown, however, is a long-term investment in both your dental function and your smile. It may be well worth supplementing out of pocket your insurance benefit to get the crown that suits you on both counts.

If you would like more information on crown restorations, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation.

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By Advance Family Dental Care
August 26, 2017
Category: Dental Procedures
Tags: crowns  
CrownDifferencesCouldUltimatelyAffectYourCost

Crowns are a mainstay of cosmetic dentistry used to improve your smile’s appearance in a variety of situations. Not all crowns are alike, though — and the differences could affect your cost.

Crowns or caps are needed to cover remaining tooth structure which was previously damaged. Tooth decay and trauma are the major reasons for damage or loss of tooth structure that make crowns necessary. After preparing the remaining healthy tooth to fit into the new crown, we then make an impression mold of the tooth for a dental technician to use to create the new crown. It’s at this point where the road to your new smile can take different paths, both in construction and how much artistry goes in to your crown’s formation.

Porcelain crown construction falls into two general categories. The first category involves life-like porcelain fused to an inner core of metal. Because many older types of porcelain tend to be brittle and subject to breaking under pressure, metals are used to strengthen the crown. A fused crown can thus provide both durability and a life-like appearance.

In recent years, though, new dental materials have made the second category — all porcelain crowns — a viable option. Either lithium disilicate or zirconium oxide account for nearly two-thirds of crowns made today. Although research on their durability is relatively new, initial results have been encouraging, showing advanced all-ceramic crowns can tolerate forces comparable to porcelain fused to metal (PFM) crowns used in bridges.

On the downside, these newer materials may be more expensive than PFM crowns. Costs for manufacturing may also increase depending on how life-like the matching of color with other teeth you desire your crown to be. For example, individual teeth aren’t a uniform color — there are gradations of color that can vary from the tip of the tooth to the root. To capture these gradations in an individual crown requires a high level of artistry and time by the dental technician, which increases the final cost.

If you’re in need of a crown, it’s best to first make an appointment for a consultation to review your options, and to consider both your expectations and financial ability. Together we can determine what it will take to create a new look for your teeth that fits your expectations and your budget.

If you would like more information on dental crowns, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation.

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By Advance Family Dental Care
January 02, 2017
Category: Dental Procedures
Tags: celebrity smiles   crowns  
DentalCrownsfortheKingofMagic

You might think David Copperfield leads a charmed life:  He can escape from ropes, chains, and prison cells, make a Learjet or a railroad car disappear, and even appear to fly above the stage. But the illustrious illusionist will be the first to admit that making all that magic takes a lot of hard work. And he recently told Dear Doctor magazine that his brilliant smile has benefitted from plenty of behind-the-scenes dental work as well.

“When I was a kid, I had every kind of [treatment]. I had braces, I had headgear, I had rubber bands, and a retainer afterward,” Copperfield said. And then, just when his orthodontic treatment was finally complete, disaster struck. “I was at a mall, running down this concrete alleyway, and there was a little ledge… and I went BOOM!”

Copperfield’s two front teeth were badly injured by the impact. “My front teeth became nice little points,” he said. Yet, although they had lost a great deal of their structure, his dentist was able to restore those damaged teeth in a very natural-looking way. What kind of “magic” did the dentist use?

In Copperfield’s case, the teeth were repaired using crown restorations. Crowns (also called caps) are suitable when a tooth has lost part of its visible structure, but still has healthy roots beneath the gum line. To perform a crown restoration, the first step is to make a precise model of your teeth, often called an impression. This allows a replacement for the visible part of the tooth to be fabricated, and ensures it will fit precisely into your smile. In its exact shape and shade, a well-made crown matches your natural teeth so well that it’s virtually impossible to tell them apart. Subsequently, the crown restoration is permanently attached to the damaged tooth.

There’s a blend of technology and art in making high quality crowns — just as there is in some stage-crafted illusions. But the difference is that the replacement tooth is not just an illusion: It looks, functions and “feels” like your natural teeth… and with proper care it can last for many years to come.  Besides crowns, there are several other types of tooth restorations that are suitable in different situations. We can recommend the right kind of “magic” for you.

If you would like more information about crowns, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine articles “Crowns & Bridgework” and “Porcelain Crowns & Veneers.”

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Naperville, IL Dentist
Advance Family Dental Care
1567 N Aurora Road, Ste 143
Naperville, IL 60563
(630) 358-9899
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