Alternatives To Crowns Are Considered First Before Crowning A Tooth Arbitrarily For Cosmetic Purpose

At times we receive inquiries from patients who want to know if we can crown their teeth to improve their appearance

. While it is true that a porcelain crown does indeed mimic a natural tooth, we do not recommend placing a crown over a tooth for cosmetic purposes alone.

If a cosmetic solution is needed for a solely aesthetic problem, we will recommend any number of appropriate alternatives to crowns.

Cosmetic dentists do this in order to preserve as much of the original tooth structure as possible. You see, in order for a crown to be placed, the tooth must be reshaped in order for the crown to properly fit.

This involves removing some of the tooth mass and sometimes this results in a great deal of the tooth's structure being irretrievably lost. This ultimately works against the purpose of tooth repair, because it takes away a portion of the tooth only to make it look better.

One of the simplest alternatives to crowns that dentists can use instead is cosmetic tooth whitening. This procedure involves bleaching away stains that form beneath the porous surface of tooth enamel. While this is not a permanent solution to tooth discoloration, it is comfortable, simple, and safe and can restore teeth to near original whiteness without any alteration in their structure.

Another alternative to dental crowns are porcelain veneers. These thin sheets of special porcelain are exceptionally tough and white enough to match and upgrade the existing color of your teeth. They are bonded directly to tooth surfaces and are used to repair small abrasions or severe staining in the tooth surfaces.

Dental bonding can be used to replace old fillings that have fallen out, provided the cavities they are filling are relatively small. More commonly, dental bonding is used to repair small fractures or larger pocks in tooth surfaces.

Many times, people who have lost a filling want us to replace it with an identical copy of the original. We advise against this because silver mercury amalgam fillings are not as biofriendly as cosmetic dental resin. They also lack cosmetic value and require drilling and scraping away of tooth matter which we look to avoid at all costs.

The determining factor in how we treat a tooth that has lost a filling or that has been damaged by a large cavity is based on how much of the original tooth mass remains at the time of treatment, and on how viable that mass is in terms of long-term survival.

If dental bonding resin or some other alternative to crown cannot be used in a way that ensures the tooth's long term survival, then we will crown the tooth in order to preserve its structural integrity. The secondary benefit to this, of course, is an improved appearance with a natural looking tooth replacement.

Extraction and replacement with a dental implant will only be considered if the tooth is has suffered so much damage that it is certain to fall out on its own or cause an abscess in the mouth at a later date. Simply extracting the tooth and doing nothing to replace it is out of the question, because teeth rely upon each other for alignment and support.

by: Beth Guide

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