Crown Bridge

Crown Bridge

There are several different ways of restoring teeth, the most common being a filling. Badly decayed, broken, severely discoloured teeth or  misaligned teeth cannot be repaired by fillings. Crowns are used  to  repair such  teeth. A crown is an artificial covering for the tooth and can be made out of several different types of material. The tooth under the crown is reduced in size, over which the crown will be permanently cemented. Similarly for a Bridge the two teeth adjoining the missing space are reduced.

Crown & bridges can be made of Porcelain (Ceramic), Gold or a combination of Metal and Porcelain or Gold and Porcelain. Crowns & bridges look just like regular teeth and no one but you and your dentist will know which tooth is yours and which one is artificial.

Crowns

A crown can cover and support a tooth with a large filling when there isn’t enough tooth material left. It can be used to attach a bridge, protect a weak tooth from breaking, or restore one that’s already broken. A crown is a good way to cover teeth that are discoloured or badly shaped. It’s also used to cover a dental implant.

Crowns are indicated for

• cracked teeth and teeth with deep cavities
• to protect teeth that have been filled by root-canal treatment
• to provide extra support for bridges and
• to cover poorly shaped or discoloured teeth

The teeth to be crowned are prepared which involves reduction of the tooth size (usually under local anaesthesia) followed by an impression or mould of the prepared tooth. This trimming of the tooth is required to create space for the crown to be fitted. The mould taken is then sent to a laboratory where skilled technicians will fabricate the crown. In the meanwhile, a temporary crown is made and fitted onto the trimmed tooth.

Dental Bridges

A bridge stabilizes the bite of a patient who is missing one or more teeth. Bridges prevent the surrounding teeth from moving or shifting in the mouth. A missing tooth that is not replaced may cause surrounding teeth to become unstable and require removal, compromising oral health or change the shape of the face and diminish the beauty of a smile.
Unlike partial dentures, bridges are permanent; patients need not remove them. The missing tooth is replaced with an artificial tooth connected between two crowns (caps), which are permanently cemented or bonded on the adjacent teeth.

Bridges can be used to replace a small number of missing teeth if the neighbouring teeth are sufficiently strong. The number of missing teeth, condition of the neighbouring teeth, condition of the supporting gums and bone are all important factors which need to be assessed prior to making a bridge.

Metal Free Ceramic Crowns
Metal Free Crowns are extremely aesthetic and cannot be differentiated from the adjacent natural teeth.(Even the patient may not be able to recognise after a few months!!!)They are suitable in cases involving front teeth where aesthetics is of paramount importance and in people allergic to metal. At our Dental Clinic we find more and more people choosing these kind of metal free crowns over all other crowns including porcelain fused to metal crowns.