How Dental Crowns Bring Damaged Teeth Back to Life

How Dental Crowns Bring Damaged Teeth Back to Life

Dental crowns are longstanding and reliable restorations which bring damaged teeth back to life. If you have a tooth that's weak, dental crownsmisshapen, decayed or fractured, you could be a candidate for a CEREC crown from Dr. R. Scott Langdon, your Mooresville, NC, dentist. These one-visit porcelain crowns are lifelike and strong.

What is a crown?

It's a tooth-shaped cap, shaped to fill a smile gap and to fit perfectly over the healthy parts of an ailing tooth. Crowns help avoid the harmful consequences of tooth loss--marred personal appearance, bone and gum recession, impaired oral function and more. Crowns also restore dental implants, support traditional bridges and cover teeth saved by root canal therapy.

Most dentists, including Dr. Langdon, choose porcelain as their preferred crown material because of its realistic appearance and strength. Other common materials are porcelain fused to metal, or PFM.

Whatever the material, crowns support and beautify damaged teeth for years. They require meticulous brushing and flossing (as do all your teeth), and of course, Dr. Langdon sees all his patients every six months for cleanings and check-ups, as recommended by the American Dental Association.

CEREC crowns

Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics. That's what CEREC means, and it's a remarkable process. With digital imaging and impression techniques, your Mooresville, NC, dentist can create a three-dimensional, virtual model of your tooth and surrounding tissues and then translate that information into an actual porcelain crown.

Where does this happen? It all happens right in Dr. Langdon's treatment room, eliminating third-party dental labs, long wait times (days to weeks) and awkward temporary crowns.

Dr. Langdon will examine your tooth and X-ray it to confirm it's healthy enough to receive a crown. He'll numb the area around the tooth and remove the damaged portions, including old fillings. Then, he'll do a final shaping.

As you wait in the dental chair, you can watch your crown take shape as the CEREC apparatus mills it from a solid block of tooth-colored porcelain. The process takes about 20 minutes, and when complete, the crown is bonded permanently over your tooth. Because CEREC processes are so precise, the crown should fit and bite perfectly right away with little to no adjustment needed.

Keep your tooth

Restore it with a beautiful porcelain crown from Dr. R. Scott Langdon in Mooresville, NC. He'll explain the process and discuss with you the many benefits of Cerec crowns. Call the office today for a one-on-one consultation: (704) 664-1188.