A dental crown (cap) is a protective covering over a tooth. In short, a good crown will look exactly like a real tooth and will last for many years. And it will restore the structure and strength of a damaged tooth.

Do you have a broken down or decayed tooth? Then you may need a dental crown.

The crown is a fixed and permanent solution to a broken down or decayed tooth. In fact, the patient may forget that her dentist crowned the tooth. Like natural teeth, you will not able to remove the crown once the dentist places it in your mouth.

Call our Rock Hill office 803-324-7670 or contact us online to make an appointment. We will tell you if a crown is the best solution for your mouth.

A crown will strengthen and restore your tooth. It is a good long term solution because it protects your tooth from further break down or decay. 

Why a Dental Crown?

We make the recommendation to get a dental crown based on photos and digital x-rays of your tooth. In addition, your dentist will talk to you about how your tooth looks and feels.

Our dentists and staff members use digital images and photos to help educate our patients. We want to make sure each patient understands why he needs a crown.

Dr. Will Cranford

Here are the main reasons a dentist may recommend a crown for your tooth:

• Fix a cracked or broken down tooth
• Replace a large filling that no longer works to hold the tooth in place
• Part of a reconstruction of the mouth that involves dental bridge
• Help keep a damaged or weak tooth. This is especially important if tooth is critical to dental work in the rest of your mouth.
• For cosmetic reasons-If you would like to make natural teeth look and feel better.
• Fixed solution to missing tooth as part of dental implant.

Read our blog post: Do I Really Need a Dental Crown? This post will help you interpret photos and digital records in the dental office. You can feel confident that a crown is the right solution for your mouth.

Contact our office here or call 803-324-7670 if you have questions about crowns. Also, read our post-crown home instructions if you have concerns after your crown appointment.

What are Dental Crowns made of?

The following types of crowns are the big four currently:

Porcelain

Porcelain fused to metal crowns were the most frequently prescribed cosmetic solution for teeth over the last sixty years. However, porcelain was prone to shipping and with age the metal margin (or edge) would often show as gums receded.

These metal backed restorations still find a place in dentistry, particularly for bridges replacing missing teeth.

Zirconia

Crowns of this up and comer material are extremely resistant to fracture. This is the strongest non-metallic material for crowns.

The cosmetic appearance of Zirconia crowns is good; however, the fit of zirconia crowns is not as accurate as with other crowns; and zirconia does not bond to tooth structure as well as other materials.

These factors move Zirconia and its derivatives down the crown selection list.

Lithium Disilicate

This material is very popular in modern dental offices. Dentists use it to fabricate single visit crowns in office with a Cancam unit like CEREC. Dental laboratories report this as the most prescribed crown material currently.

Lithium Disilicate is very strong and adjustable for opacity versus translucency. These crowns give stellar cosmetic appearance, fit well at margins, and bond well to teeth.

Gold

Yellow gold has been the material of choice for crowns for over 100 years. Gold is very strong against fracture, feels good, and results in a crown that fits well.

But gold is not natural in appearance at all.

Dentists often consider gold for second molars (teeth at back of mouth) due to the strength of gold crowns.

What Type of Crown is Best for you?

Your dentist will consider the strength, cosmetics, and accuracy of each material when deciding which crown is best for your particular situation. In addition, he will consider where the crown is in your mouth and how it will look when you smile.

The average lifespan of a crown is 10-15 years. But when properly fabricated and cared for, crowns of any material can last decades. 

Our dentists made the crowns below for the same patient over the past 25 years. Each serves a different purpose and both are working well for her.

When to Replace a Dental Crown?

 We expect dental crowns to last for many years. In fact, we see crowns that are still working well after 30 or 40 years.

But sometimes we need to replace dental crowns. This is often due to excessive wear or changes in dental health of the patient.

Here are the most common reasons to replace crowns:

• Old crown breaks or comes off
• Patient not happy with how crown matches natural teeth
• Dentist diagnoses decay under the crown
• Receding gums affect the cosmetics and function of old crown

How to make Crown Last Longer?

The number one reason for failure of crowns is dental decay, or caries, at the margin of the crown (where crown edge meets the tooth).

Consuming sugary drinks and sucking hard candies, peppermints, or cough drops leads to rapid progression of caries. Reduction of sugar intake and cleaning your teeth well daily should add years or even decades to the life of a dental crown.

To prolong the life or  your crown:

• Brush and floss every day.
• Wear a night guard to protect your crowns from nighttime clenching and grinding if your dentist recommends this.
• Avoid using your teeth for anything but chewing food— don’t crunch ice, don’t chew hard candy, don’t use teeth to open bottles or packages.
• See your dentist on a regular basis. If we need to replace a crown, it’s much better to replace it early on, before problems such as decay and wear get worse. 

One Day CEREC Crowns

We use a CEREC to make and place crowns in one day in our office in Rock Hill.  In fact, our dentists make over 85% of our crowns in one day.

With the CEREC we use advanced software to read in data from your tooth. This scan makes a very accurate recording of the mouth. And it avoids impressions and the related discomfort.

After scanning, we send the readings to a milling unit in our office. This machine mills the crown as you wait.

Read our blog post: Should I get a One Day Crown? This will help you determine if a CEREC crown is the right solution for you.

Advantages of CEREC One Day Crowns

Lots to like about one day crowns—

• No gunk—Who wants to have an impression tray stuck in their mouth?
• No wait—You are in and out in only a few hours.
• Good fit—Dentist is able to read in a very precise image.
• Beautiful crown—It really does look like a real tooth.
• Amazing technology—Patients view the screen as the dentist scans in the tooth.
• Easy adjustment—If the crown needs an adjustment, the dentist does it immediately.

Actual Case—CEREC crown

For years, this patient was insecure about how her smile looked in photos. In less than two hours, we replaced her old dark crown with a natural-looking crown, thanks to our Cerec technology.

The patient was happy that she only had to come in for one visit and did not have to wear a temporary crown.

Visit our Gallery to see Before and After photos of crowns that our dentists made in our office. You will see that we make beautiful crowns in our Rock Hill office that look and feel like natural teeth.

Crowns: New Smile for Dr. Cranford

Dr. Robinson fixed Dr. Cranford’s worn down teeth by making dental crowns.

Dr. Cranford is proud of his smile. Crowns (made with CEREC technology) made a big improvement in the way his teeth looked and felt.

Ask him to explain the benefits of teeth that are healthy and line up correctly. He would be happy to show you his new smile.

Dr. Robinson used CEREC CAD/CAM technology to make crowns for her Dad, Dr. Bill Cranford. View her blog post on Making Dr. Cranford Smile to see the big improvement dental crowns made in Dr. Cranford’s looks.

I can truly say Do what I Do to patients in my office. My new teeth look and feel so much better. And the before and after photos are amazing.

Dr. Bill Cranford

Email our office or call 803-324-7670 if think you may need a crown. Dr. Cranford or Dr. Robinson will give you a fair and honest opinion on the best way to restore your tooth.