The skinny on crowns

Say the word ‘crown’ to a dentist and they won’t imagine beautiful gold, jewel-encrusted headwear for queens and kings. They will see pearly white jewels adorning the inside of their patients’ mouths. Some will be the real deal, made by Mother Nature. Others will be incredibly lifelike replicas made by skilled craftsmen from various materials, including precious metals, but often porcelain.

In the dental world, crowns are the white chewing parts of your teeth. You get 2 sets from Mother Nature, which are meant to last you a lifetime. Sadly, for various different reasons, you may lose one, some or all of your teeth, or need them renovating, and then you move into the realm of artificial crowns.

Here at The Dental Surgery Burnham in Burnham, we use crowns in a variety of different ways:

To preserve teeth

Sometimes teeth start to fail, but their life can be extended by covering them with a crown. Maybe you have had a tooth infection and have had to have root canal therapy. Maybe your tooth is starting to crumble and split after several fillings or years of night-time grinding. A crown is a cover that goes over your natural tooth to strengthen it.

To anchor a bridge

We also use crowns to anchor a row of false teeth on a bridge. The crowns go over 2 adjacent healthy teeth, which then act as buttresses, giving the support of their roots to the artificial crowns on a bridge.

On dental implants

Crowns are also fitted to dental implants, which are artificial tooth roots that are inserted into the jawbone. One dental implant can hold up to 3 crowns on a bridge.

Making a crown

Our aim is to make our crowns as strong and lifelike as possible. We want everyone to think this is one of your natural teeth. Thus, we take great care to colour-match it with the rest of your teeth. We also shape the crown so that it blends in with the size and shape of the rest of your teeth.

If you think you might need a crown, why not have a chat with us on the phone or contact us via email.