Dental Crowns Los Angeles

What are Dental Crowns?

How do dental crowns work? Dental Crowns are fixed prosthetic restorations that are made to restore and fix the damaged natural tooth to the correct shape and size. They are permanently cemented teeth that restore the natural tooth. Crowns are commonly called Dental Restorations and for good reason as they replace the damaged tooth and act as a natural cover to replace the tooth that was damaged or that isn’t suitable for the mouth any longer. Dental Crowns are used to fixed the outer part of the tooth and may in some instances extend all the way down into the periodontal gum line where they replace the root surface as well.

How do Dental Crowns Work?

Dental Crowns work much like a cap on a water bottle. They cover a preexisting damaged tooth and enable to tooth to be restored to its natural beauty as well as to protect against further damage and infection. Dental Crowns are a great type of cosmetic dentistry to assist a patient in quickly and efficiently restoring the natural tooth to its original condition. Although the tooth is not fixed, as crowns are often used when a tooth is beyond this point, they are a tremendous way to get dental restoration quickly, affordably and efficiently.

When should you use Dental Crowns?

There are many reasons to choose dental crowns for your restorative dentistry needs. One of the most common occurrences for choosing dental crowns is to restore a tooth that is damaged, almost damaged or one that is very weak. Additionally, other reasons to choose dental crowns are to restore broken teeth (structural broken teeth), preventing cracked teeth from getting worse and also to support teeth that have large fillings and prevent any further infection or dental complications. One of the biggest benefits that Dental Crowns offer is a complete sealing effect that helps to prevent infection and offer immense support for the damaged or structural damaged tooth. Additionally, in more a cosmetic sense, Dental Crowns can offer great cosmetic and aesthetic appearance improvements – they can be placed on teeth to improve the shading, size and even shape of teeth.

What are 3/4 Crowns & Onlays?

What are 3/4 Crowns and Onlays? Onlays and 3/4 crowns are variations of the traditional dental crown. The main difference is that 3/4 crowns cover only 3/4 of the tooth and less of the tooth than the traditional crown. This is also true of the onlay that covers less of the tooth than the traditional crown. However, it is important to note, that all three – dental crown, 3/4 crown and onlays, all serve their own purpose and depends entirely on the situation to determine which one is the best option.

How do Dental Crowns Work & How are Dental Crowns Installed?

Step 1: Local Anesthetics

The first step is numbing the local area in the mouth – we call this Local Anesthesia.

This type of dental numbing is done to prevent pain and anxiety during the surgical procedure. Due to the nature of dental crown, the gingival root may be irritated and thus resulting in pain if not numbed.

Step 2: Impressions of Your Mouth and Picking the Correct Shade.

The second step involves getting correct alignment impressions and picking the right shade of tooth – often called Alignment Impressions & Shading

In order to properly create the perfect dental crown, your dentist will need to get an accurate reading of your mouth alignment for the new crown. This is done through the use of something called an alignment impression where you’ll bite down and give us an impression of your teeth. After the initial bite, we will then take that impression, send it to our dental lab and have them start to fabricate the dental crown. It is important to get accurate readings of both the upper and lower maxillary and mandibular arches to get the perfect fitting crown. The initial impression will also help to get a reading so that we can fabricate an initial temporary crown – this will be the crown that will be worn while the permanent crown is being made.

Step 3: Preparing the Tooth

The third step involves figuring out the amount of damage, fixing the damage and creating an environment so that the new crown fits tightly and prevents infection of any kind.

Dental Crowns mimic the natural tooth and for that reason, it is important to make sure that the crown is going to fit perfectly and prevent infection and other bacterial materials to penetrate the tooth in anyway shape or form. To do this, your dentist will numb your gum and the surrounding areas and start to assess the area. If there is possibility for infection, the dentist may place a rubber dam over the area which will help to eliminate old fillings, bacteria and other materials from interfering with the dental crown.

Your dentist may also remove small amounts of tooth and filling material from that area of the mouth to ensure that the newly fabricated crown fits securely and tightly to prevent bacteria and dental materials from getting inside of the hollowed out tooth/dental restoration. During this period, if there is a filling that has failed, the dentist may redo the filling and then place the crown. If there is a root canal that occurred on the tooth, the dentist may redo the root canal to ensure that there is not infection & may also opt to fill in that area with composite again to make sure the area is clean.

After all of this is complete, the dentist will continue to do reshaping, cosmetic contouring and other aesthetic improvements of that nature. This step is very important and takes a lot of time to do but is very important to ensure that tooth fits correctly and that there is no wear and tear of surrounding teeth AND to ensure that there is no infections, or ways/crevices for bacteria and infections to occur. Additionally, this is also important for aesthetic and cosmetic purposes.

Step 4: Taking a final impression

The Fourth Step involves taking the final impression to ensure that everything fits correctly. 

The impression is one of the most important steps when we’re talking about the dental crown. As long as the impression is perfect, the crown will fit perfectly. If the impression is not perfect, it will be hard to get a form fitted crown that is extremely secure.

When the tooth is ready for the impression, your dentist will take an impression of your teeth. From here, your dentist will begin the impression and make sure that the impression is fully encapsulated and complete before using that to create the permanent crown. Again, this initial impression is very imporant to ensure that the crown fits perfectly. The impression will be analyzed by the dentist and if there is any issues, he will continue to repeat the impression until it is flawless and ready to be used to fabricate the permanent dental crown.

Step 5: Fabricating the Temporary Crown

The Fifth steps involves fabricating the temporary crown so that the patients’ teeth or jaw structure do not shift.

This step is very important for the patient as it involves creating a temporary crown that will remain in place until the permanent crown is available. The temporary crown is essential for a variety of reasons:

First and foremost, the temporary crown acts as a natural buffer in your mouth. Due to the nature of teeth damage, when the dentist goes about prepping the tooth for the dental crown, he removes a substantial amount of tooth structure from your jaw and gum line. The result? Your tooth or teeth are exposed and this causes the need for an immediate temporary crown to protect the tooth structure. Additionally, the temp. crown is also very important to maintain the jaw structure and teeth alignment as by losing a tooth your jaw naturally sags and causes misalignment and shifting – this is our body’s natural response when we loose teeth as it stops using energy to maintain the structural integrity of the mouth. This is important for a myriad of reasons so it is important to understand this before receiving a temporary crown – it is an imperative step. Additionally, during this stage, a ton of enamel is lost from the tooth and the result is exposed dentin. If the tooth is not covered, the patient risks having extreme pain and sensitivity when exposed to cold, hot or pressure in the mouth. Remember how important temporary crowns are and contact your local dentist immediately should something happen to the tooth structure.

Step 6: Cementing the Permanent Crown

The sixth step involves cementing the permanent crown and securing the crown to the tooth structure.

After receiving the temp. crown, it usually takes about 7-10 days to get back the permanent crown. It is important to schedule an appt. with the dentist prior to leaving the office when receiving your temporary crown to ensure that you have a time to receive your permanent crown when it comes in.

When you return to the dental office and your new permanent crown is in, your dentist will have you sit down and will again numb your gum line with anesthesia to prevent pain and discomfort during the procedure. However if you’ve already had a root canal on that tooth, you will most likely not require any local anesthesia as the root nerve in that tooth was already severed during the root canal and thus you wouldn’t experience any pain.

Once you are numbed up, the dentist will remove the temporary crown and start the prepping to place the permanent crown. Once the temp. crown is removed, your dentist will take the permanent crown and place it on the tooth. It should fit perfectly as long as the impression was correct. Your dentist will then take dental floss and check the areas on either side to make sure there is proper spacing. If the crown comes in contact with surrounding teeth, your dentist may remove some tooth structure from the surrounding teeth but not from the actual dental crown.

Once your dentist is happy with the fit of the dental crown, he will start the cementing process to cement the crown in place. The cementing process involves eradicating the mouth from any and all saliva and water to ensure a clean and dry environment. After that, the dental assistant will take the permanent crown, fill the crown with cement and pass it to the dentist. the dentist will then take the crown and cement it onto the tooth structure making sure to wipe any excess cement off that comes out once cemented. After that, if the cement requires a curing light, the dentist will use the light to finalize the cementing and ensure that the tooth is cemented on.

Step 7: Checking the Bite

The Seventh step involves checking the bite to ensure that everything is aligned correctly.

Although the crown was made to fit perfectly, often times it is not perfect and needs small and minor tweaks to make it perfect. The dentist will check your bite and make minor changes as he/she sees fit. Your dentist will wait about 10 minutes before he checks the tooth structure and the bite.

Step 8: Post-Operative Instructions

The Eight step is to discuss post-Op care and discuss what to do should something go wrong with the crown.

Crowns are made to withstand normal wear and tear but sometimes things happen, food is bitten on an odd angle, or a hard substance causes the crown to fall out, break or crack. In this case it is important to contact your dentist immediately to ensure that you get this fixed right away.

Why are Dental Crowns Needed?

Dental Crowns are needed to restore dental ailments such as damaged teeth, crooked teeth, discolored teeth or misaligned teeth. Additionally, crowns are also used to fit over newly placed dental implants and are in fact recommended when getting a dental implant. Dental Crowns are a great restorative dentistry procedure as well as a great cosmetic dental procedure depending on the type of dental issue that needs to be solved.

What types of Crowns are Available?

When it comes to dental crowns, there a variety of different options to choose from. Below we outline the different types of Dental Crowns and which ones you should consider based on your unique circumstances:

• Stainless Steel Crowns

Usually a type of temporary crown that is used while the more permanent crown is created out of a different material. These type of crowns are usually not permanent but offer good benefit as a temporary crown.

• Metal Crowns

Metal Crowns are a common type of dental crown. These type of metal crowns can be made out of gold, palladium, nickel, or chromium. Metal crowns rarely chip and offer irreplaceable support and protection from infections. Likewise, due to the metal material, they also last longer than most crowns and are very durable. One negative is that the metal color glistens and sticks out in bright light and in some situations and for that reason it is best to use metal crowns for back teeth that – preferably molars.

• Porcelain-fused-to-metal Crowns

Porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns offer great benefit when it comes to most crowns. These type of crowns can be fused to shrouding teeth to match the color and the and or the teeth besides them. While the benefit is that this type of crown can blend in easier than other options, there are a few drawbacks of this type of dental crown. These type of crowns wear down the surrounding teeth and can often and easily chip and crack should they come in contact with other teeth and also wear down due to natural wear and tear quicker than most type of crowns. These type of crowns are a great option for front or back teeth as they blend in and offer nice cosmetic and aesthetic perks.

• All-Resin Crowns

These type of dental crowns are less expensive than other type of crowns due to the resin material that is naturally more inexpensive than porcelain or metal. The drawback is the durability of these type of crowns – they are no where as near as durable as metal or porcelain infused crowns but they do offer the same blending in option which is great for cosmetic and aesthetic benefits.

• All-Ceramic or all-porcelain Crowns

All-ceramic or All-porcelain dental crowns hands down provide the best type of color matching and blending of all type of crowns. For this reason alone, this type of crown is a very popular choice for most individuals looking to get crowns. These are predominantly used for front teeth where the blending is the most important. A few things to note for this type of crown is that they do wear down the opposing and adjacent teeth more easily than other types of crowns and do not offer as much benefit as porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns but still are a great choice when looking for an all-around dental crown to pick.

• Pressed Ceramic Crowns

Pressed Ceramic Crowns are pressed and used to replace the lining in metal crowns. Pressed Ceramic Crowns are often times capped with some type of porcelain. The benefit? This type of crown is very long lasting and even outlasts All-Porcelain Crowns – therefore a great choice for crowns for both longevity and durability.

How to find an expertise dentist to give you a crown in Los Angeles?

The best way to find a dentist to crown you is to search on google for “Crowns Los Angeles” or in your city. If You’re Located in Los Angeles, Dr. Arash Hakhamian DDS – Cosmetic & Emergency Dentist & Dental Implants Specialist is a great dental surgeon to go to. He is located in downtown Los Angeles at 2002 S Hoover St. Los Angeles, CA 90007

You can schedule an appointment or contact us today to schedule a free no obligation consultation and see if a dental crown is the right fit for your dental needs.

Call now (310) 666 – 5701