Crown and Bridges
A crown is just like a cap on your tooth that covers most of the exposed part on your tooth. It is needed primarily to reinforce a weaken tooth that may fracture and become non-restorable. Crowns are usually recommended on teeth with largefillings, root canaled treated teeth, teeth with fracture lines and to improve estheticsof front teeth.
For a crown placement, we go around the tooth, remove minimal tooth structure to make room for the crown and create a ledge where crown can sit.
CROWNS CAN BE MADE UP OF METAL, PORCELAIN Or ZIRCONIA.
Metal Crown: Metal crown is a very good option for posterior teeth. Usually a gold alloy is used for this purpose. The advantage of this type is that it requires very less removal of tooth structure.
Zirconia Crowns: Zirconia is a very strong material and can be sued on posterior teeth. It is a very good alternative if a patient wants strength and matching tooth color with other teeth. However it is not esthetically as natural looking porcelain can be, so zirconia crowns are recommended just for posterior teeth.
Porcelain: Porcelain is the most esthetic option available and is recommended on anterior teeth. It is not as strong as the other two options and requires more removal of tooth structure.
We sometimes use porcelain over zirconia or metal to give it strength and yet maintain esthetics of the crown.
Bridge
A bridge is a terminology used when one or more missing teeth are replaced by fixed fake teeth. Usually adjacent teeth, one on each side of the missing tooth is prepared for crowns. The fake crown is supported by crowns on adjacent teeth.
