What Types of Dental Crowns Are Available?
By Thomas Nabors | Published on October 14, 2011 | 0 Comments
Several types of dental crowns are available for dentists to work with, however the specific material that a dental professional chooses for a patient is likely to be based on a number of variable factors. According to Dr. Thomas D. Nabors DDS, a dentist who specializes in dental crowns in Dallas, Texas, the type of crown that a dentist uses will largely be determined based on the location of the tooth that is being treated.
Although there are several types of materials that can be used when making dental crowns in Dallas, the most common are metal, gold, and alloy. Dentists like Dr. Nabors have been using these materials for many years. However, these materials have been decreasing in popularity over the course of the past decade because they are generally not as aesthetically pleasing as porcelain.
As a dentist who specializes in dental crowns in Dallas, Dr. Nabors says that most people nowadays will only get metal, gold, or alloy crowns on their back teeth – if they get them at all. Although metal is a good material for dental crowns, Dr. Nabors says that many people are dismayed by the fact that it does not blend into their mouths as well as porcelain.
While porcelain is generally thought to be the most natural looking material that can be used in the mouth, it is not usually as strong or durable as metal. Dr. Nabors says there are many brands of porcelain crowns and many specific types for people to choose from. Although they do work well on the front teeth, all-porcelain crowns are not as common on the back teeth and the molars.
If a patient is getting a crown on a front tooth, then Dr. Nabors is most likely to recommend an all-porcelain crown. When it comes to the back teeth, Dr. Nabors says that dentists in Dallas are offering crowns made of porcelain-fused-to-gold or porcelain-fused-to-metal. To have a crown that is made of porcelain-fused-to-metal is to have a crown with a metal substructure and a porcelain top. Essentially, a dentist will make a well-fitted metal crown, but he will have porcelain baked onto the top of it so the tooth looks completely natural in the mouth. This works very well, and it makes it easy for the dentist to achieve a good fit without sacrificing the aesthetics of the patient’s smile.
The one benefit that all-porcelain crowns have over porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns is that they mimic the tooth structure like nothing else, which is what helps people achieve completely natural looking smiles. Although Dr. Nabors can make a front tooth look natural with a porcelain-fused-to-metal crown, he has to make sure that enough porcelain has been baked on top of the metal to completely disguise the metal color underneath. This can make the tooth look thick in some cases, and those are the specific instances in which he says an all-porcelain crown might just be the very best choice.
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