Crowns & Bridges
When a badly broken down tooth needs reinforcement.
When removable prosthesis are not ideal for one.
Crown
"A cap like, a helmet like structure used to cover your tooth that has weakened due to cavities or fracture."
These are a few phrases used by dentists to describe a crown. Crowning of a tooth is usually recommended when a tooth has lost a large amount of it's tooth structure.It is also commonly recommended after a tooth have undergone a root canal treatment. Crowning helps prevent the tooth from fracturing easily in the future, thus prolonging the life of a tooth.
Bridge
" A bridge like structure that helps replace missing teeth, by using the adjacent neighbouring teeth as pillars to hold the prosthetic teeth that is replacing the missing teeth. "
A bridge is one of the fixed options for replacing missing teeth apart from dental implants or removable prosthesis such as dentures. It is favoured by many due to it's aesthetically pleasing and permanently retained nature. Many people do not like to remove their dentures daily and may opt to have a fixed option such as dental bridges or dental implants
Are there any downsides to crowns & bridges?
One of the side effects that crowning or bridging can cause is, that it may cause a tooth's pulp( the tooth's nerves and blood vessels that is contained in a space called the root canal ) to become agitated and irritated due to the trimming off the outer layer of the tooth. If this happens and the tooth is not able to calm down and heal itself, the pulp will get inflamed and may need to undergo a root canal treatment. However, due to the advance in technology, with stronger crown materials being discovered, dentist are able to limit the amount of tooth structure that is trimmed away to accommodate the crown.
Having optimal daily oral hygiene care is also important to help prevent the bridge or crown to give way faster. Care tips are given below.
What are the steps or procedure?
Getting it done
Procedures or steps for crowns & bridges:
An X-Ray may be taken to assess your tooth condition before starting treatment.
If your tooth is vital (have not undergone any root canal treatment), a numbing injection will be given to help cope with the sensitivity during the tooth preparation.
An impression of your tooth is first taken before the tooth is trimmed down, this is to fabricate the temporary crown of your tooth.
The tooth is trimmed down in size to provide space to fit the crown.
Another impression is taken to get the shape of the tooth that is prepared.
The impression will be send to the lab for the fabrication of the crown or bridge which will usually take around 1 week for the work to be done.
A Bite(how your teeth bite together as one unit) is also taken along with the impression of the tooth that is prepared, to make sure the crown is fabricated with a harmonious bite with the other existing teeth in your mouth. Therefore, this also leads us to the need of taking another impression of the opposing set of teeth to check the bite of the upper teeth and lower teeth.
The dentist will then check the shade of your tooth with a shade guide, to get the colour that is most matching to your neighbouring teeth.
The dentist will then place a temporary crown on to the tooth that has been trimmed down in size.
An appointment will then be scheduled for you to receive your permanent crown.
During the 2nd visit, the temporary crown will be removed and your tooth cleaned before the placement of your permanent crown.
The dentist will check the fit and the bite of your crown to ensure it is satisfactory before cementing it to the tooth.
If there are any dissatisfaction with the fit, bite or shade of the crown, the dentist will then reschedule you another visit to receive the crown. The temporary crown will be placed back, while you await for the next appointment to receive your permanent crown.
It usually requires 2 visits for a crown to be done.
Caring for your crowns and bridges
It is important to use a custom made floss for bridges to help clean under the bridges. Not doing so, will cause the occurrence of cavity to form at the root surface of the neighbouring teeth that are acting as pillars to hold the missing teeth. This also will occur on teeth that has been crowned. Therefore, flossing is a must if you have crowns and bridges placed. Not only does flossing help prevent cavities to form on the root surfaces underneath your crowns and bridges, it also helps prevent the accumulation of food debris, plaque and calculus build up. These build ups will cause inflammation of your gums and bones that supports your teeth leading to gum disease. Gum disease that has spread to the bone that supports your teeth will cause the bone to recede, leading to the loosening of your tooth that holds your crowns and bridges.
Do take note that flossing of other teeth that are sound are also crucial to prevent cavities or gum disease.
Last but not least, always remember to go for your regular scaling and check up every 6 months, to prevent gum disease and to catch early signs of cavity that form underneath crowns and bridges.
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