Looking After Your Dental Crown
Keeping your newly restored tooth strong and healthy.
At The Dental Centre Bedford, we use tooth crowns (‘caps’) as part of a number of procedures. Most commonly perhaps, a crown is used to restore and strengthen a tooth that has either been significantly broken, or has suffered decay to the extent that a straightforward filling would not be sufficient to preserve it.
These are not the only situations though, and crowns are also used to complete both a root canal procedure and a dental implant placement.
Once attached to your tooth, dental crowns offer an excellent level of strength. Despite being made from ceramic, a material which will not decay, it is important to remember to keep both the tooth, and the crown, clean.
A secure crown
A healthy dental crown depends on the remaining structure of the natural tooth for its security. Whilst the crown itself may not decay, the tooth to which it has been attached certainly can and therefore it is important to make sure that you clean the crowned tooth, as you would your natural teeth. In addition, you should also make sure to clean your gums too, remembering that gum disease is a threat to both natural and replacement teeth, including dental implants. Your crowned tooth is no exception to this!
Detachment
Dental crowns rarely become detached from the tooth. The special adhesive used to attach it to the tooth is very strong indeed and its fixative qualities should last for many years. In the highly unlikely event that your crown does become detached though, please keep it safe and contact our Bedford dental practice as soon as possible so that we can reattach it for you. Please do not attempt to do this yourself!
Cerec
It is worth mentioning here, that, unlike many other dental practices in the Bedfordshire area, we have our own in-house facilities to make dental crowns whilst you wait. This is hugely beneficial to our busy patients as crowns can be attached in just a single visit to The Dental Centre Bedford. Without the need to outsource the manufacture of your crown to a laboratory, you can simply wait in our comfortable waiting rooms whilst your new crown is milled from a single block of ceramic using Cerec technology. Some studies have also concluded that crowns produced in this manner may be superior to laboratory made ones.
If you would like more advice about ceramic dental crowns, or if you feel that your current crown is not as secure as it should be, please call our friendly Bedford dentists to arrange an appointment on 01234 819868.