Dental crown is a type of restorative dentistry. The procedure of dental crown is used to restore misshapen, crooked, stained, or severely discoloured teeth. The procedure of dental crown typically requires at least two visits to the dental crown dentist for tooth preparation and placement of the dental crown to be placed.
Only the dental crown dentist can conclude that you are eligible for the procedure of dental crown. Therefore, the essence of the first visit to the dental office includes to examine your dental condition as well as to prepare the affected tooth to be crowned. This is done by taking an impression of the affected tooth with which the dental crown would be constructed.
Before the completion of the permanent dental crown, a temporary dental crown is placed on the prepared tooth during the first visit to protect it.
During the second dental visit, by now the permanent dental crown must have been constructed in the dental lab, the dental crown dentist removes the temporary crown and places the permanent custom-made dental crown.
Procedure of Dental Crown in Houston
The procedure of dental crown generally follows five steps:
- Dental examination
- Tooth preparation,
- Impression taking
- Placing of the temporary crown
- Placing and cementing of the permanent crown.
As stated above, the procedure of dental crown in Houston basically requires two dental visits.
First Visit
The first visit involves dental investigation, impression taking, tooth preparation, and placing of the temporary dental crown.
When you make the first visit to the dental office, the dentist would take an X-ray of the affected tooth and jawbone to investigate for extent of the dental issue or injury. In some cases, root canal procedure may be required before the procedure of dental crown.
The affected tooth is then prepared. This involves shaping/filing down the affected tooth to allow enough room to accommodate the dental crown to be placed. The type of dental crown to be placed will determine the extent of the shaping. For instance, metal-based dental crowns are thinner, so they require the removal of less enamel, whereas the porcelain crowns require the removal of more enamel.
Porcelain crowns typically require about 2mm enamel to be removed while the all-metal crowns require about 1.5mm enamel to be removed. The top and sides (all surfaces) of the affected tooth are filed down as required by the dental crown. At this stage, any dental decay must also be treated.
In the case of severe damage to the tooth or dental decay, there may be inadequate tooth structure remaining to hold the dental crown. Hence, a dental filling may be required to build up the tooth structure and support it so that the dental crown can be placed on it later.
After the affected tooth has been properly shaped, impressions of the affected tooth are taken. These will be used as a model to create the permanent dental crown in the dental lab. This will ensure that the permanent crown fits the tooth as closely as possible and also fits the neighbouring teeth as well.
The impressions are normally made with a putty or paste that holds the shape of the affected tooth. The putty or paste is spread across the teeth area and then pulled away, this keeps the impression of the relevant tooth on its surface.
More so, certain record such as the natural fit and colour of the affected tooth is also taken to make the permanent crown. Normally, the colour of the permanent dental crown should match that of the affected tooth as well as neighbouring teeth so that it will remain unnoticed when placed in the mouth.
Finally, your dental crown dentist would place a temporary dental crown over the affected tooth to protect it pending the time the permanent dental crown would be constructed in the dental lab and made ready for placement. This temporary crown would be removed at the next visit when the permanent crown would be placed.
Second Visit
This involves removing the temporary crown and placing the permanent crown.
In the meantime, the impressions taken during the first visit is used as a model which is taken to the dental lab to construct the permanent dental crown in the right colour and shape. The time frame between the first visit and the second visit is typically three weeks.
Once the permanent crown is completed, the dental crown dentist would remove the temporary crown, wash and dry the affected tooth, and place the dental crown over the tooth. It is very important for the dentist to check that the permanent crown fits correctly over the affected tooth and that the colour matches that of the neighbouring natural teeth before cementing the crown in place.
During the procedure of dental crown in Houston, a local anaesthesia is normally administered to the patient to numb the affected area. Once the permanent crown properly fits the shape and colour of the tooth, dental cement is used to fix the dental crown in place over the affected tooth. Sometimes, some small adjustment may be necessary to be made to the shape of the permanent crown, especially if the patient experience issues with bite when the dental crown meets the opposite tooth.
Same-Day Dental Crown Houston Procedure
In some special cases, the permanent dental crown may be created in the dental office so that the permanent crown is placed on the same day the tooth preparation is done, without any need of sending impressions and models to a dental lab.
In this case, instead of taking impressions of the affected tooth, a scanning device known as “wand” is utilized to take photographs of the tooth. These photographs are uploaded onto computer software that makes 3-D model of the affected tooth. This 3-D model is then used to create a permanent ceramic dental crown on the same day. This method is called the computer-aided design (CAD) and the manufacturing of the permanent dental crown can be completed in about 15 minutes so the permanent crown can be quickly inserted.
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