Dentist recommending a crown?

Question

My dentist says I need a crown on one of my back teeth which has got 3 seperate fillings in it at the minute, and apparently has some recurrent decay around one of them. He plans to basically take out the old fillings, drill away the decay and replace it with one big filling, but he says the filling will be so big that the tooth will be too weak unless he puts a crown on it.

He recommended getting a stainless steel crown on it, because it's cheapest and because it's at the back so you won't really be able to see it. I don't really understand totally what a crown is though - does it go over the whole tooth right down to the gum? Or does it just cover the top part of the tooth? And what's the process of having a crown fitted?

Answer 1

i have two crowns. [ both on my back teeth ] they have to do a root canal and kill all the nerves in it. then they drill your tooth down and put a fake tooth on it.



its better to go ahead and get a crown than to have them constantly having to fill your tooth.



but trust me, itll never hurt again. =]



ps. i didnt get a silver one. i got one too much the shade of my teeth.

Answer 2

A crown covers the entire tooth. What they will do is remove the filling and any decay and reshape the tooth a little. At the office that I worked for we would then place a string around the tooth called Retraction Cord and that stays in for a few minutes. It pushes the gums back a little. After removing the cord they will take an impression of the tooth so they can send it to the lab to have them make you a crown. They will make you a temporary crown to wear while you are waiting for your permanent crown.There are 3 different kinds of crowns: Stainless Steal which is all silver. A Porcelain Fused Metal or PFM crown which is a metal crown with porcelain baked on it so it looks like a natural tooth. The other crown would be a Gold one and that of course is all gold. When you go back to get your permanent crown they will take the temporary crown off and try on the permanent one. They should take an xray of the crown to make sure the margins of the crown fits well on the tooth. They may have to adjust the bite on it a little and then if everything looks good then they will cement it on. That is about all. Good Luck with it.

Answer 3

A crown should cover the entire tooth, and sit just below the gumline so that you don't see the metal under the tooth colored porcelain. The process is completed in two appointments.



1. An impression is made which will be used to make a temporary crown which you will leave the office that day with (unless your dentist uses the old archaic way and puts a pre-made temporary crown on). The tooth is then prepared (not drilled to a nub... shaped a particular way which helps the crown stay on). The gums around the tooth are retracted and another impression is made for your permanant crown. The temporary crown is cemented.



2. In about three weeks....Your temporary crown is removed, any access cement cleaned off, and your permanant crown is tried on. This can be a lengthy process if your dentist is particular. If the crown is a good fit, it is cemented on with permanant cement.



All done.

A root canal is a completely seperate procedure and has nothing to do with a crown, unless you just happen to need both.

Answer 4

Sheloky is correct. The dentist drills all the decay and old filling away and leaves a stump. He will take an impression or a mold and have a crown made. He will make a temporary crown for you to have until the permanent one is made. The crown will look and function just as the other teeth do just made of stainless steel. The crown sits on the "stump" all the way to the gums most people can't tell a porcelain crown from a real tooth. You can the stainless steel of course. Have you ever seen little kids with those stainless steel teeth it will look just like that.

Answer 5

The dentist will firstly take away the existing fillings. He will then carry out root canal work which takes away the nerve in the tooth. Don't worry you will have an injection to numb your mouth and the process itself will be quite painless. He will then drill and file your tooth down to a stump. Afterwards an impression of your teeth is made so that the crown will be a perfect fit. Initially, perhaps, he might even fit a temporary crown there whilst the permanent one is being made. You will then go back and have the permanent crown fixed. The crown itself is fitted onto the stump of tooth left and makes no real contact with the gum at all.

Answer 6

they basically drill away ur tooth leaving just a stump and then they fit a crown, like a false tooth, over the stump and glue it on..

so it is like having a false tooth, but cos u still have ur own tooth in ur gum its not so bad, takes a while to get used to tho.. and the drilling aint fun...