Believe it or not, there are scientific reasons to smile more. It’s uplifting, produces endorphins, and makes you appear more approachable.
But many people don’t like to smile because they’re embarrassed with how their smile looks. Thankfully there are ways to improve your smile quickly and one way to do that is with same day crowns.
If you’re curious about same day crowns and how they can enhance your smile, keep reading to learn more!
What Are Same Day Crowns?
In some cases, teeth are too far gone to be restored with fillings. This can be due to extensive decay or cavities with unsightly and discolored old fillings, premature shortening of teeth from grinding, or even traumatic fracture. To restore your tooth back to its natural shape, appearance and strength when a filling can no longer be supported by your remaining tooth structure, a crown is placed over the tooth to support the tooth instead.
Many years ago, you’d have to wait several weeks to get your permanent crown from your cosmetic dentist. With today’s advanced technology, you can get a crown on the same day as your dental visit. This saves you time, and most changes can be handled in the office immediately instead of waiting.
Traditionally, crowns are made with porcelain ceramic fused to metal alloys of gold, palladium and silver or all metal without porcelain ceramic and needed to be sent out to a dental lab to make requiring a second visit to deliver. Same day crowns are all ceramic, made in-house and delivered in one visit.
Who Can Get Same Day Crowns?
Most people can benefit from same day crowns. If your tooth has thin enamel left and might fracture with a filling, same day crowns might work for you. Same day crowns are truly beneficial for patients who have just broken a tooth and are unable to wait to return for a second visit to get their permanent crown inserted. The embarrassment and inconvenience of having a temporary plastic crown come off after office hours or on weekends leaving the tooth exposed and sensitive is avoided when crowns are made the same day and permanently cemented on the same day.
Your Portsmouth, NH dentist can recommend if same day crowns might be your best option.
The Process of Same Day Crowns
Dental crown treatment may take time depending on what type of crown you’re getting. Here is a snapshot of what you can expect when you go in for your same day crown.
Same day crowns are produced through a technology called Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics or CEREC machine. This machine uses a camera to take 3-D photo scans of your teeth so the tooth is formed properly.
Scans are taken to record your bite relation, the tooth and dental arch to be worked on and the opposite dental arch opposing the tooth. Once numb, the dentist will remove all remaining enamel and decay from the tooth and ensure that there is sufficient space or clearance to provide the necessary thickness for the crown to cover the tooth needed for strength. It may be necessary to build back some structure lost to decay removal by bonding composite resin material to restore tooth form that will help in inserting and retaining the crown in place.
The gum tissue surrounding the tooth are retracted or pushed aside temporarily so that the scanner can see the margins where the crown to be made will end. A secondary series of photo scans is now made of the fully prepared tooth with retracted gums.
The initial scans and the secondary scans are then stitched together much like putting together a jig saw puzzle. The computer software needs to stitch the images accurately in order to create a 3 dimensional model of your bite from which to build your crown.
Once the images are stitched together, the software is guided into designing the crown. With the shape and contours altered digitally to the dentist’s satisfaction, the file is sent wirelessly to the milling machine to make the crown.
The milled crown once completed is checked in the mouth for fit and some minor adjustment if necessary. It is then glazed, placed back in a sintering furnace for a few more minutes, cooled down, etched and then cemented onto the tooth.
Caring For Your Same Day Crown
While good oral hygiene is important for the health of your teeth, it’s even more important to stay consistent when you have a crown. You do not want decay to develop beneath the crown if you want to preserve it as best as possible and avoid a replacement.
Keep following your oral routine of brushing and flossing twice a day. This will prevent plaque build-up, staining, and bacteria from eroding away your enamel. If your dentist has any additional care instructions for you, be sure to follow them precisely.
If anything ever happens to your crown and you do need it replaced, contact a Portsmouth dentist near you to get help! A broken crown is a dental emergency and you’ll need a dentist that has emergency hours.
Pros and Cons of Same Day Crowns
Same day crowns do have their advantages and disadvantages. Here are some of them.
Pros
As suggested, same day crowns do not take long. In one visit, you can be on your way and your decayed tooth restored, covered and protected. This is great especially for those that have a busy schedule.
The ceramic crown matches your own teeth and blends in nicely with your smile. They offer a type of restoration for your tooth which could save your entire mouth!
Because the process is done in one day there’s less need for anesthesia. This means that people who are needle phobic won’t require another shot as is done on a second visit prior to cementing traditional crowns.
You avoid needing a temporary crown. With traditional crowns, you need a temporary crown covering the tooth and cemented temporarily until the final permanent crown is inserted. Since temporary crowns are designed to come off when it is time to place the permanent crown, the temporary cement used unfortunately may fail to keep the temporary crown in place during normal chewing and may fall out. This would leave the tooth exposed to potential bacteria and render the tooth sensitive to hot and cold if the temporary crown is not cemented back in place immediately.
Cons
Compared to metal crowns like gold, which is malleable and requires less tooth reduction as it does not require bulk for strength, ceramic restorations do need a certain amount of tooth reduction to achieve strength against fracture from biting or chewing forces. This is significant in already worn down and shortened teeth that require further tooth reduction for crown restorations that may bother the underlying nerves if too close. When this occurrence is observed, we would anticipate the need for Root Canal Treatment for the tooth in addition to the crown if the tooth becomes symptomatic. However, the same phenomenon would hold true even in traditional crowns if the tooth was badly decayed prior to restoration with a crown.
Not everyone qualifies for same day crown. To be sure, contact your dentist in Portsmouth NH to find out.
Do You Need A Same Day Crown?
A same day crown is a great option for people who are busy or need a crown quickly. Same day crowns get you in and out of the dentist’s office, while protecting your tooth, so you can get on with your life.
Are you looking for a dentist in Portsmouth NH? Our office is friendly, knowledgeable, and ready to answer your questions about same day crowns! Contact us today to answer your questions.