Crowns are used to restore both function and beauty to a tooth. When a tooth has been damaged by decay, trauma or treated endontically, and there isn’t enough tooth structure to safely restore the tooth with a composite or amalgam filling, a crown is often recommended to complete the restoration of the tooth.
Crowns have many advantages over fillings. First they make the tooth stronger. By encapsulating the previously damaged, prepared tooth with a metal thimble with a ceramic veneer, or an all ceramic restoration or even a solid gold crown, the remaining portion of the tooth is protected, not just for years, but usually for decades.
Secondly most crowns are made with or covered by a tooth colored material. Thanks to the artistry of Dr. Salah and his dental laboratory technicians, crowns look GREAT. Finally, because of the many advances in dental materials, modern crowns can last a lifetime. Even if a tooth restored with a crown should fail, it’s usually the tooth beneath the crown that decays, the crown often looks like it did the day it was placed.
Bridges are a lot like crowns. They are created by a laboratory technician, just like a crown, they can last for decades just like a crown. Bridges do one thing that crowns don’t; they replace missing teeth, with a permanent, non-removable restoration.
Replacing missing teeth is very important. Teeth depend on their neighbors for support. If a neighbor goes missing, the surrounding teeth move into the open space, from either side, even from above or below. The resulting movement causes further alignment issues that can lead to periodontal problems and eventually tooth loss. Clearly the replacement of missing teeth is essential to your over all dental health.
When a patient is fortunate enough to have a dental benefit plan funded by their union or employer, crown and bridge work is considered the “standard of care” and is paid for in the amount contracted for in the dental benefit plan.