Dental Crowns Do More Than You Think
Hello, dear reader, and welcome back to our blog! Here at Boulder Dental Designs, we are passionate about helping our friends, family, and neighbors have access to the best dental care that they possible can. Good oral hygiene is one of the most important components of a healthy body. If a person’s mouth becomes home to an abundance of bacteria or is allowed to become infected due to impacted teeth or poor gum hygiene, the rest of the body can suffer greatly. Heart attack, stroke, and even death can occur from poor oral hygiene and we want to provide our patients with every resource possible in order to avoid complications due to poor oral hygiene. In today’s post, we are going to go over dental crowns. In our dealings with patients, we have found that many of them have a few misconceptions about what crowns are, what they are used for, and what they can offer the patient. We hope that by the end of this post those misconceptions are cleared up and that everyone reading this has a better idea of what dental crowns are able to do. Keep reading below to learn more.
Tooth Decay is the Enemy
While the list of dental issues that should be avoided is quite long, one of the main issues that should be avoided is tooth decay. Tooth decay is most commonly caused by an overabundance of bacteria in the mouth. This bacteria works to eat away at the enamel of a person’s teeth, working its way into the inner layers of the tooth structure and wreaking havoc on the sensitive dental pulp. Once the dental pulp has been infiltrated, it takes only a short amount of time for the root of the tooth to become compromised, effectively shutting off the avenue by which the tooth receives nutrients and minerals. To remedy this issue, root canal therapy can be done on the tooth in order to disinfect the dental pulp and, hopefully, save the root of the tooth. Even though bacterial growth is the most common causal factor of tooth decay, it is not the only way that unwanted bacteria can be introduced. Damaging a tooth, chipping, cracking, or breaking it, can also lead to bacteria infiltrating the interior of the tooth. Luckily, a damaged tooth can be protected through the placing of a dental crown.
Dental Crowns Act as Shields
When you think of a dental crown, think of it like a shield for a tooth. When a tooth becomes damaged, its “armor” has been cracked. This exposes it to all sorts of risks and is a situation that needs to be remedied as soon as possible. While some damage to teeth can be fixed with dental cement, some cases require a more extensive form of repair. Dental crowns are most often placed when a tooth has broken or a crack has occurred that is too deep to fix through other dental repair methods. To place a dental crown, a dentist first assess the tooth to determine the amount of damage that has been done. After a thorough cleaning of the tooth and, in many cases, some slight reshaping, a dental crown is placed over the tooth and held in place with dental cement. The result of this dental procedure is a tooth that is protected from further damage while retaining the appearance of a normal healthy tooth.
Are Crowns Better Than Implants?
A common question we get from people is whether or not they should get a dental implant or a dental crown to fix their damaged tooth. Both procedures offer a solution to a tooth that has become decayed or damaged, however, in our opinion dental implants should be reserved for situations where the tooth absolutely cannot be saved. In dentistry, it is always preferable to keep the root of a healthy tooth in place whenever the situation allows for it.
If you feel that a dental crown might be the best option for your damaged tooth, please get in touch with us today at Boulder Dental Design. We help patients all across the Boulder area maintain the health of their teeth and gums and we are certain that we can come up with a solution to fix your situation.
