How to Tell if You Need a Dental Crown
Dental crowns can serve a variety of purposes. Whether you’re looking to improve the appearance of your teeth or repair a damaged or decayed tooth, a crown is a great way to protect your teeth from wear, extend the life of damaged teeth, or simply make your teeth look uniform.
So how do you know when you need a dental crown? Here’s what you need to know.
Cracked or Broken Tooth? A Crown is the Best Treatment
Crowns are most frequently used for treating cracked and broken teeth.
When you crack a tooth, the tooth has interior fractures that may pull apart slightly when stressed. This movement can cause intense pain and may expose the tooth’s root and pulp, making infection a risk. Placing a crown on a cracked tooth restores the tooth’s shape and contains the fracture, protecting your tooth from stress and infection.
A broken tooth is also best treated with a crown. Trauma can often cause teeth to break, with the cusps often coming off the tooth. The cusps of the tooth are vital structures that shield the rest of the tooth from pressure when eating. If you’ve broken a tooth, that tooth will continue to fracture under further stress if it isn’t treated. A crown holds a broken tooth together and prevents the tooth from fracturing further.
Crowns Can Protect Decayed and Worn Teeth
If you have any particularly large dental cavities that you’ve had filled, you’ll likely need a crown in order to protect your tooth and prevent further problems. Large cavities can weaken your teeth and put them at risk of fractures, which means the only way to avoid a fractured tooth is by protecting said tooth with a crown.
A dental crown is also useful in protecting teeth that have suffered significant wear. You may have extensive wear on your teeth if you grind your teeth frequently, if you have acid reflux or bulimia, or you have a high-acid diet. Grinding and acidic foods and drinks can reduce the amount of enamel in your teeth, eventually changing their shape or even changing your bite. When that happens, a set of crowns will be required in order to protect your teeth and maintain the proper bite.
Cosmetic Crowns Improve Your Smile
One increasingly popular application of crowns is in dental cosmetics. Cosmetic crowns are often used to give teeth a uniform appearance and to address concerns relating to the shape and color of a patient’s teeth or even the gaps between them.
Cosmetic crowns aren’t strictly medically necessary, but you may want to talk to your Tucson dentist about cosmetic crowns if you’re unhappy with the shape or color of your teeth. Cosmetic crowns have a very natural appearance and can typically be custom made to blend in with your surrounding teeth.
Dental crowns are most commonly used to restore damaged or decayed teeth and to improve your smile’s appearance. You may need a dental crown if you’ve recently suffered a blow to the mouth, if you have a particularly large cavity, or if you’ve broken a tooth while eating. A crown or set of crowns may also be a good idea if you’re not happy with the way your teeth look.
No matter the reason, you’ll want to ensure you’re getting your dental crown from an expert dentist you can trust. Contact Badie Dental today at (520) 325-3022 to schedule your appointment with Dr. Badie, a dentistry veteran with over 20 years of experience in painlessly placing high-quality crowns.
