Crowns

At General & Cosmetic Dentistry of Tampa, we provide patients with high-quality dental crown procedures to ensure they can keep smiling beautifully. For over three decades, our family practice has helped countless patients restore the strength, aesthetics, and function of their teeth.

Discover what dental crowns are and why patients from all over Tampa visit our dentist’s office to get a newly crowned tooth.

What Is A Dental Crown?

Dental crowns, also referred to as dental caps, are dental prosthetics that mimic the shape, color, and overall look of real teeth. Instead of covering the entire tooth, caps only cover the top or the entire visible portion above the gum tissue or gum line.

These tooth-shaped covers are used to protect our teeth from further tooth decay or damage and improve their strength, shape, appearance, and overall functionality.

Crowns are typically placed over an existing damaged tooth structure. Patients may also request a dental crown procedure to cover misshapen, discolored, or broken teeth.

Although a new crown is usually placed over existing teeth, it can also be placed on top of an implant. In both cases, dental cement is used to fix it permanently in place.

Who Needs Dental Crowns?

People whose teeth were irreparably damaged or decayed are the primary candidates for a dental crown.

Below are specific ways our dentists can help you achieve better teeth with dental crowns:

  • Cover stained or severely discolored teeth.
  • Prevent a severely worn or weak tooth from breaking.
  • Add support by covering a tooth that has a large filling material.
  • Protect a chipped, cracked, or otherwise broken tooth.
  • Enhance the look of a disproportionately sized tooth.
  • Improve the appearance of a deformed tooth.
  • Cover a dental implant.
  • Protect sensitive teeth after root canal treatment.
  • Reduce heat and cold sensitivity due to exposed tooth’s pulp.

Different Types of Crowns

The type of crown depends on the materials used, such as metal or resin crowns. Choosing the material for the crowned tooth will depend on various factors like location, function of the tooth, remaining natural tooth, color of the surrounding teeth, and more.

  • All porcelain crown or all ceramic crowns. A porcelain or ceramic crown offers the best color match for most natural appearance. These are also ideal for patients with metal allergies. They work as a permanent crown for front or back teeth.
  • Porcelain fused to metal crowns. These also offer great color matching. Since porcelain fused to metal are more reinforced, they are ideal for front and back teeth that need to withstand strong biting and chewing force.
  • Metal dental crown. Gold crowns are fairly common, though nickel, chromium, or palladium are also used. Metal crowns rarely chip or break, but are best for out of sight molars due to their color.
  • Resin dental crown. All resin crowns are one of the most affordable options for patients. However, they have less durability and are more likely to break than porcelain crowns.
  • Zirconia dental crowns. Milled zirconia crowns require special equipment and software to create. Zirconia crowns can be made quickly in the dental lab and allow for same-day crown procedures.

Preparing for a Crown Dental Procedure

Installing a crown traditionally takes at least two days. Today, though, new technology allows our experts to provide same-day crowns.

Traditional Crown Procedure

The first visit is allotted for all the preparation work prior to installing permanent crowns. Examining your teeth, filing down or reshaping the anchor tooth, creating an impression of the tooth to be covered, and giving you a temporary crown will all be done on the first visit.

The impression is made to ensure the permanent crown fits the reshaped tooth well. Temporary crowns are placed on the prepared tooth to protect it from harm.

On the second visit or day, the dentist replaces the temporary crown with the permanent one. In some cases, they may administer a local anesthetic to numb the underlying tooth and the immediate area for ease and convenience.

One-Day Crown Procedure

Here at General & Cosmetic Dentistry, we are proud to offer CEREC® same-day crowns. CEREC stands for Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics. They are super strong ceramic crowns designed and created in our own lab.

The procedure for same-day crowns starts similarly to the traditional one with cleaning, filing, and preparing the underlying tooth.

A scanning device or wand is then used to take digital images of the tooth. A 3D model of the tooth is created from these images, which is used as reference to make the ceramic crown. After shaping the ceramic crown, it can be permanently cemented into place in as fast as 15 minutes.

The whole procedure can be done in just one visit!

Find Out If You Are a Candidate for a Crown Procedure

You may be a candidate for a dental cap or crown if you have any structural or aesthetic dental problems, particularly with your front teeth, and are at least 18 years of age. Children can only get crowns and other cosmetic dental fixes under special circumstances as their teeth will still continue to grow and change in length.

Call your dentist today to learn how a crown can help you restore your bright smile. Our expert dentists and team are always ready to help our patients.

Contact our dental offices today at (813) 960-5869 to schedule an appointment.