A dental crown is a ceramic cap custom-made to fit over a patient’s tooth. The crown will seal over the surface of the tooth with dental cement, allowing for a durable and secure restoration.
Dental crowns provide many advantages for a patient’s oral health, but some people may feel nervous about introducing a new fixture to their smiles. You can boost your confidence going into this dental work when you know details about the benefits of this treatment. Read on to check out five of the many ways that a dental crown can enhance your smile.
Replaced Damaged Tooth Enamel
Each tooth features a hard outer layer called enamel. The enamel serves as a shield, enduring wear and tear without issue so that the more vulnerable interior of the tooth does not suffer damage while chewing or biting.
But over time, your enamel can wear down or crack. When this happens, the inner layers of the tooth become exposed and therefore are put in danger of oral bacteria and other threats. Once you develop enamel erosion, the teeth cannot heal the damage on their own.
However, a dentist can replace lost enamel with a dental crown. The cap covers the tooth, providing protection once more.
Treat Advanced Tooth Decay
Many of us will get a cavity in a tooth at some point. This early form of tooth decay develops when natural oral bacteria find a weak spot in the tooth enamel and begin to eat away at the structure.
A dentist can treat a cavity with ease, but if you ignore this problem in your tooth, the decay will progress. If bacteria damage too much of the tooth’s surface, then a dental filling cannot provide enough coverage to restore its structure. In this case, a dentist will use a dental crown instead to finish the treatment of advanced tooth decay.
Repair Broken Teeth
A tooth might wear down over time. But you could also suffer an acute injury that can chip, crack, or fracture a tooth. If you suffer this dental damage, you might feel pain. But the crack or other breakage can deepen and worsen if you do not seek urgent treatment from your dentist.
The dentist can fix a broken tooth through dental crown treatment. The crown will cover the damaged part of the tooth and seal into place. This way, the injury will not get worse, and you can find relief from discomfort related to the tooth breakage.
Enhance a Tooth’s Appearance
Dental crowns are known as restorative dental solutions, but they can have cosmetic benefits for a tooth as well. Dentists build crowns on a custom basis for each patient to ensure a comfortable and secure fit that will not interfere with oral function.
This individualized approach will allow for a beautiful finish that suits the size, shape, and color of a patient’s natural smile too. The crown can also cover dental discoloration and other aesthetic concerns to enhance the appearance of a tooth.
Support Other Dental Work
Dental crowns function well as a treatment in their own right. But a dentist can also use a crown to support another dental procedure. For instance, crowns can make for an ideal prosthetic tooth atop a single dental implant.
Dentists will also employ a dental crown at the end of root canal therapy. The crown offers optimal protection for a vulnerable tooth after the removal of the tooth’s pulp, ensuring no further harm will come to the tooth.