If you’ve chipped your enamel or developed a cavity, a filling may be able to get your tooth back in working order. But if a tooth is significantly damaged, you might need an artificial crown. Also known as caps, crowns replace the visible part of your tooth which protrudes from your gums. At All Coast Dental in Pacific Beach, we’re experienced providers of crowns that are custom-fitted and designed to look indistinguishable from natural teeth. Getting a crown is a multi-step process, so if a patient ever needs one, we want them to know what to expect.
A crown would typically slip over existing tooth material, so in order to fit, the natural enamel would have to be reshaped into an abutment. An abutment is a rounded cone shape; if the crown is meant to go over an implant, the implant would have a metal abutment placed on top of it during its integration process. When a patient undergoes root canal treatment, their tooth is often reshaped after its pulp chamber is sealed. Once their tooth has been reshaped, we will make an impression of the patient’s mouth and send it to a dental laboratory, where the crown will be fabricated. In the meantime, the patient will wear an artificial crown.
Upon the patient’s return visit, we’ll use dental cement to seal the artificial crown to the abutment. Although metal crowns were common in the past and are still sometimes used on baby teeth, most crowns today are made of porcelain or resin and we’ll help our patients to pick a color that matches their existing teeth. Crowns need to be brushed and flossed like natural teeth, and they need to be protected with mouth guards during sports, but they typically last for over ten years.
Drs. Julie and Joseph Boulos operate All Coast Dental at 2180 Garnet Ave, Suite 1-K, Pacific Beach, California, 92109. To schedule an appointment, call 858-270-4904 or visit All Coast Dental and fill out a contact sheet.