A crown (often called a cap) fits over and replaces the entire part of a decayed tooth above the gum line. It encases the tooth and becomes the tooth's new outer surface.
You will typically need two or more visits to your dentist to repair a severely decayed tooth with a crown.
Crowns may be made of porcelain or a metal base covered with a thin layer of ceramic that matches your teeth and looks like a normal, healthy tooth. Crowns for the teeth in the back of the mouth may be made of gold.
During your first visit, your dentist will take out the decay and make an impression of your teeth to create a mold used for making the crown. Your dentist will:
Numb your teeth, gums, tongue, and surrounding skin. Your dentist will first put a substance that feels like jelly directly on the area to start the numbing process, and then inject an anesthetic to complete it and to reduce your pain and help you relax.
Sometimes use a small sheet of rubber on a metal frame (rubber dam) to target the decayed tooth and stop liquid and tooth chips from entering the mouth and throat.
Drill out all the decay.
Take an impression of the decayed tooth. The mold will allow a technician to make a crown that perfectly matches the drilled tooth.
Cover the tooth with a temporary crown until your permanent crown is ready.
During your second visit, your dentist will:
Numb your teeth and gums as before.
Remove the temporary crown.
Cement the permanent crown to the damaged tooth.
Have you bite on a piece of carbon paper. This shows how well the crown is positioned. If necessary, your dentist will reshape and polish the crown.
What To Expect After Treatment?
Your lips and gums may remain numb for a few hours until the anesthetic wears off. Avoid chewing on your numb lip or cheek to avoid injuring your mouth.
Why It Is Done
A crown is used to:
Treat teeth that have broken or decayed so much that your dentist cannot fix them with a filling.
Cover a tooth that is so severely damaged that most of the top part had to be removed.
Repair a defective filling.
Improve how a tooth looks.
Dentists sometimes use crowns after root canal treatment to seal the tooth and prevent it from breaking.
How Well It Works?
A crown will work just like a healthy tooth.
Crowns sometimes come loose over time, and you may need to get them cemented again or replaced.