Crowns

A crown completely encircles or covers a tooth or dental implant. Crowns are often needed when a large cavity have been filled and only a small part of the tooth remains.  In order to protect the remaining tooth structure from breaking or to save a tooth that has already broken, a crown can be placed on the tooth.  They are also used to improve the appearance of teeth and also to correct the alignment, shape and size of teeth. They are typically bonded to the tooth using a dental cement. Crowns can be made from many materials such as gold, porcelain fused to metal, all porcelain and zirconia.

At Family Dentistry of Upper Marlboro, we use the indirect method of tooth restoration to make our crowns.  The tooth is prepped or reduced as needed and an impression is then taken of the tooth.  That impression is sent to a lab which makes the final crown.  During the time that the final crown is being produced a temporary crown is made and placed in the patient’s mouth.  The final crown is place at the second visit using permanent cement.