Your teeth function to grind, chew, bite, and tear into food, and normally they endure wear and tear without issue. But they are not indestructible. Either through an acute accident or over time, your teeth might sustain structural damage that can significantly disrupt your life.
When this happens, your dentist might give you a dental crown. This ceramic cap will fit over the surface of a tooth and seal into place with dental cement to restore and reinforce its structure.
Though the benefits of this treatment seem clear, you may feel more comfortable receiving this fixture in your smile when you know more about what it can do. Read on to find four ways your dentist might use a dental crown to improve your oral health.
Replace Eroded Enamel
Your teeth have a hard outer shell coating their surface called enamel. It serves as a shield over the sensitive and vulnerable interior of your teeth. While durable, the enamel might wear down eventually.
This can happen if you grind or clench your teeth regularly, consume many acidic foods or drinks, or do not practice good oral hygiene. If your enamel erodes, it will not regrow, leaving your teeth weak and in danger of many dental issues.
Your dentist will need to replace the lost enamel with a dental crown in order to keep your teeth safe once again. The crown can also relieve related symptoms like tooth sensitivity.
Treat Advanced Tooth Decay
A dentist may use a dental crown when treating patients for advanced tooth decay. Decay happens when oral bacteria start to eat away at weak spots in your tooth enamel. A cavity forms when decay creates a hole in the tooth, but decay will worsen and deepen without prompt treatment from a dentist.
A dentist will need to remove the decayed part of the tooth to treat this extensive damage. If decay affects a larger portion of the tooth, a filling may not be enough to restore the tooth’s health. The crown can provide more thorough coverage for the tooth.
Repair Broken Teeth
Under high amounts of pressure, such as biting on a hard item, a tooth might chip, crack, or fracture. This tooth breakage will create a vulnerable point in your tooth that will only worsen without intervention from a dentist.
Cosmetic dental work can amend some minor cases of tooth breakage, but more severely broken teeth will need more reliable restoration with a dental crown. The crown can cover the newly weak part of the tooth so that it looks, feels, and functions as good as new once again.
Support Other Dental Treatments
Dental crowns offer many oral health benefits on their own, but dentists may also use these caps to support other dental treatments. For instance, a crown can protect a tooth after extensive procedures like root canal therapy.
It can also make for an ideal prosthetic tooth atop a single dental implant. Consult with your dentist to learn more about the advantages of introducing a crown to your smile.