If you have never yet lost a tooth due to all probable causes, chances are that you are not accustomed with crowns or porcelain crowns, in dental context. Crowns in dental industry refer to artificial teeth that are made of porcelain, semi-porcelain or full metal. The crowns are attached to the implants on your jawbones or attached to the molded gum that looks like mouthpieces. If you want to replace your missing tooth, any of the three types of crowns mentioned would be good choices.
All three types have their advantages and disadvantages, depending on your needs and preferences. Full metal crowns are the best options if you are after durability. Gold, palladium or platinum are the most common metal usually utilized for this purpose. However, they can never look like a natural tooth due to the very nature of metals; hence, they are usually used for molars, that are not that noticeable.
Semi-porcelain metal or porcelain fused to metal kind of crown looks like real teeth since their metallic exterior is hidden under a ceramic coating that duplicates real tooth enamel. Nevertheless, you can see their real structure when you place them under strong light. Unlike real teeth or porcelain crowns, PFM lacks transparency. One downturn to this type of crown is that it can cause more abrasion on opposing teeth than the other two types of crowns.
Porcelain crowns, on the other hand, look like the real thing as far as natural tooth is concern. If you are not that familiar with porcelain, you probably cannot distinguish porcelain crowns from real set of teeth. Due to technical advancement in the field, ceramics have been made to be as strong or as durable as full metal or PFM crowns. By using CAD/CAM method, a dentist can easily create porcelain crowns in minutes. The only downside to this type of crown is that they are expensive. Due to the technology employed, materials used and attributes that are comparable to other existing types of crowns, porcelain crowns are quite expensive.
On the other hand, you do not really need to have a missing tooth to be able to use crowns. You can also utilize it to cover teeth with large fillings, hide stained or disfigured tooth, protect fragile tooth, repairs a broken tooth or just to hold a dental bridge in place. When well-taken care of, your porcelain crowns will last a very long time. You can wear your crowns on the very same day you visit your dentist or it may take some time before you can get to wear them.
When this happens, you can opt to wear temporary crowns while waiting for your porcelain crowns to arrive. It usually takes two visits however before you can have your crowns installed in your mouth]. The first visit is usually dedicated to evaluation, assessment of your oral health and of preparing the crowns. You get to wear your crowns on your next visit, when it is ready to be installed in your mouth.
Like natural teeth, you need to take good care of your porcelain crowns. This type of crown usually get worn out like natural teeth. You also need to know that there are some complications that may arise from wearing crowns such as allergic reactions, getting loose or chipped, discomfort and falling off. These minor troubles are unlikely but not impossible. When you experience any of these things, it is recommended that you get back to your dentist and refer your case. Your doctor will probably have the ready solution for you.