Crowns

Crowns or “caps” are restorations that cover and protect the tooth structure.  Crowns are made to strengthen and improve the appearance of your teeth.  At our Glendale Cosmetic Practice, we use the highest quality laboratory to fabricate our crowns.  These crowns can be made from different materials which include full crowns made with Empress Porcelain.  In certain cases, we will fabricate porcelain to metal crown (usually on posterior teeth) and in some cases a gold crown can be made.  We also fabricate all porcelain crowns in our office, and they are called CEREC crowns which is a one visit procedure.

The crown procedure can take one or two visits depending on the type of crown.

Your 1st appointment will begin by giving you a local anesthetic to make the tooth numb. If you are apprehensive, we have Nitrous Oxide, headphones or sedation, Dr. Wilcox will prepare the tooth.  He will remove any old filling and decay that is in the tooth and prepare the tooth to maximize retention and esthetics.  Dr. Wilcox will then take a final impression of the tooth for the lab to create the porcelain crown.  With the CEREC procedure, we will image your tooth for the CadCam to mill your crown.
   For a lab produced crown, we fabricate your temporary, which you will wear while the permanent is being made.  The temporary will be cemented so we can easily remove it at the cementation of the permanent crown.  No temporary is required for a CEREC restoration.

During the temporary phase( while you are waiting for your permanent crown)  you will need to take extra special care of the temporary so it does not come off.  Be careful  flossing around the temp and don’t eat anything sticky(like caramel).  If the temp should come off,  please call us as soon as possible to have it cemented back on. 
 
At your 2nd appointment to bond the permanent crown, the temp will be removed after you are numb.  Dr. Wilcox will fit your new porcelain crown by checking the contacts between your teeth, to make sure it is tight enough.  Dr. Wilcox will check the bite and adjust accordingly so your bite is comfortable. Together we will make sure the shade and shape are correct and then we will bond the new crown.  We will use a bonding cement and a high intensity laser to make the crown bond with the tooth making it as strong as your original natural tooth.

Hopefully this information will help in answering your questions and concerns about what a crown is and what the procedure entails. Here are a few examples of what the types of crowns look like:

CEREC

EMPRESS CROWN

PORCELAIN TO METAL CROWNS

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