Crown

A covering placed on a tooth to replace missing structure and reinforce or strengthen it. The most common dental crown made today are from a cast metal (preferably a gold alloy) with esthetic porcelain baked to the outside. In non esthetic areas, or for patients with exremely strong masticatory musculature, gold crowns are still used and are still the most durable restorations known. Today, we also have all-porcelain crowns, with incredible esthetics (see Procera). Crowns are indicated for broken or cracked teeth, and any tooth in which the previous filling encompassed more than one-half of the width of the tooth. Crowns are also still used to solve some cosmetic problems when bonding or veneers would not be adequate. Crowns generally require two visits, and fine crafted provisional crowns are placed for the interim.