Are You a Candidate for Dental Crowns?

Anyone with damaged, decayed, discolored, or misaligned teeth might be an ideal candidate for dental crowns. Also called caps, these restorations have various uses in dentistry and are often combined with other restorations like implants and bridges.

A dental crown is a tooth-shaped shell that covers up the visible part of a tooth, protecting it against bacteria, saliva, and bite forces while restoring its appearance. Dental crowns are long-term solutions for various dental issues, and they are usually recommended when less invasive treatments are not likely to be effective.

Placing dental crowns on a patient’s teeth often requires the removal of enamel from its sides, so teeth that have been prepped for crowns will always need a dental restoration to serve as their enamel moving forward.

Figuring out if you are an ideal candidate for dental crowns

Some of the dental problems that might make a dental crown the right solution for a patient’s issues include:

1. Tooth decay

Dental crowns are often a last resort for decayed teeth when fillings are no longer a viable option. Crowns are usually recommended for cases of severe decay where there is a risk of the tooth falling apart if left exposed to bite forces. These treatments often involve the dentist removing decayed matter from the tooth and rebuilding it with filling before placing a crown on it.

2. Cracked teeth

A dentist might recommend a crown for chipped or cracked teeth to protect it against further damage or infection. Placing a crown on a chipped or cracked tooth also restores its appearance and function, allowing patients to chew and speak properly with the damaged tooth.

3. Discolored teeth

Crowns typically are not the first option for discolored teeth since teeth whitening treatments are extremely effective at removing most types of stains. However, some types of stains do not respond to whitening treatments, like those caused by decay or tetracycline antibiotics.

4. Missing teeth

Crowns can be combined with restorations like bridges and implants to replace missing teeth. Crowns are attached to implants to replace single teeth, and they serve as anchors for dental bridges that replace multiple missing teeth in a row. Implants have emerged as one of the most popular ways to replace missing teeth due to their longevity and bone-preserving properties.

5. Teeth that require root canals

Root canal therapy is usually recommended when a tooth’s pulp chamber has been damaged, leaving the soft tissues inside it exposed to bacteria in the mouth, making the tooth vulnerable to infections. Root canals involve cleaning the damaged tooth and filling its pulp chamber with gutta-percha. Crowns are often used to protect teeth following root canals to prevent them from breaking apart.