Dental Crowns, Bridges and Veneers
What is a Dental Crown?
Long-term restorative solution for heavily damaged tooth
A dental crown, also known as a “cap,” is a covering that encases the entire tooth surface, restoring it to its original shape and size. It protects and strengthens the tooth structure when the tooth has lost too much structure to be properly restored with fillings. Dental crowns are precisely made to match the shape, size, and color of the tooth and are highly durable: they are designed to last 10-15 years, and it is not uncommon for crowns to last over 20 years with proper care. However, dental crowns do require the patient to maintain a proper home care routine, and they may not withstand strong biting forces in patients with clenching habits. At North Peace Dental and Implant Centre, we offer tooth-coloured crowns (zirconia) for the best aesthetic outcomes. However, for patients with heavy clenching forces and highly damaged teeth, your dentist may recommend gold crowns.
What is a Dental Bridge?
Long-term restorative solution for missing teeth
Dental bridges are used to replace 1 or 2 missing teeth by anchoring artificial teeth to adjacent natural teeth. Specifically, the adjacent teeth are prepared as crowns, and the artificial teeth are fabricated to be attached to these crowns, which are then cemented to the natural teeth as a single unit. Bridges are aesthetically pleasing, highly functional, and permanently attached to the natural teeth, providing an excellent feel of being very similar to one's own teeth. Similar to crowns, bridges are durable and long-lasting but require good home care and may not withstand strong biting forces in patients with clenching habits. At North Peace Dental and Implant Centre, we offer tooth-colored bridges as the primary option but may recommend gold bridges in certain clinical situations.
What is a Dental Veneer?
Achieving instant aesthetic improvements
Dental veneers are thin custom-made layers that are placed on the front surface of a tooth, typically used to enhance appearance and create an attractive smile. Veneers can improve aesthetics by correcting tooth shape, color, chips, alignment, or gaps between teeth. They provide a natural-looking, durable solution for enhancing the overall appearance of a person’s smile. Veneers can be made from porcelain to achieve desirable translucency and colour with high precision, or from high-shine composite materials to achieve good aesthetics in a single appointment.
Depending on the clinical situation, the dentist may or may not need to slightly remove some natural teeth to create space and to allow optimal bonding strength. Dental veneers rely heavily on bonding strength and can be vulnerable in patients with heavy biting patterns or clenching habits. Additionally, dental veneers require good home care to maintain their longevity. At North Peace Dental and Implant Centre, we offer both porcelain veneers and composite veneers for suitable patients.
How Are Crowns, Bridges and Veneers Done?
-
Dental crowns, bridges and porcelain veneers are considered “indirect restorations”. Unlike fillings and composite veneers which are completed during one single appointments, these indirect restorations requires two or more appointments to complete, as porcelain restorations must be fabricated by a specialized dental laboratory technician to achieve the highest level of precision on shape, size and colour.
-
In the first appointment, the dentist will freeze the tooth and the surrounding area, and reshape the tooth by removing a portion of its outer surface to create space for the crown. In teeth that requires dental crowns and bridges, this outer layer is composed of weakened tooth structure, older filling materials, and possible decay or cracks. Once the tooth is prepared, an impression or a digital scan is taken, which is then sent to a dental lab where the custom porcelain restoration is fabricated and send back to the dentist.
-
The patient will then be invited to their second appointment, where the permanent crown is fitted. The patient will be consulted if the colour and shape are satisfactory. If the fit is good, the dentist will insert the crown with dental cement to permanently attach the crown to the natural tooth, and seal off any micro gaps in between. After the insertion, the dentist will adjust patient’s bite to ensure the new crown fits with other teeth in the mouth to give a comfortable bite. During the bite adjustment, the dentist relies heavily on the patient’s ability to bite at his/her natural position for adjustment. However, patients may not always be able to bite naturally in a dental setting, especially if freezing is used. It is not uncommon to take multiple appointments to find the right bite for the patient.
-
It is not uncommon to take multiple appointments to find the right bite for the patient. We ask that patients who receive a new crown to feel out the tooth for a few days and to report any changes in their bite - even a small change should be reported - as small issues can still cause problems over 15 years