Dental Crowns
Forget the diamonds and pearls of her Majesty’s head crown, a crown in dentistry is used to transform damaged, chipped or misshapen teeth in both function and appearance to preserve and restore your remaining tooth.
Unlike a veneer, which is placed at the very front of the tooth, a crown permanently encapsulates the entirety of the remaining tooth; snugly fitting like a glove 360 degrees around it. Its main purpose is to strengthen and protect the remaining tooth underneath so you can chew with confidence.
At Hampshire Dentists, Southampton, our dentists work closely with you to ensure that your crown looks natural amongst your other teeth and smile, taking into consideration colour, shape, texture and the comfort to your bite. The crown is carefully crafted using materials which feel both comfortable and natural, whilst also being strong, long lasting and hard wearing.
This involves: Crowns can be made from metal and metal free materials, with more modern materials such as metal free white Zirconia giving strength to the more cosmetic, tooth-like porcelain on top.
Patient Before & After
Crowns are made from the following materials:
Porcelain Bonded to metal: The crowns metal framework gives the natural looking porcelain its strength. We used an award-winning cosmetic technician to handcraft these, like a bespoke piece of jewellery.
Porcelain Bonded to Zirconia: More modern highly cosmetic crowns are metal free and are given their strength by zirconia framework. Handcrafted by an award-winning cosmetic technician.
Gold Shell Crowns: Not just for the bling factor, these thin but extremely hard wearing crowns are best suited to the back of the mouth where the chewing forces are greatest and there are no cosmetic concerns.
Composite and Acrylic Crowns: Relatively low cost and quick to produce but with limited strength than the former alternatives. These may be used as temporary solutions in visible areas at the front of the mouth.
Why You Might like a Crown:
- You have had root canal on a tooth
- You have had significant decay in a tooth which has little healthy tooth remaining
- You have a cracked or broken tooth
- You want to improve the appearance of a tooth which cannot be done by a veneer alone