Porcelain Crowns & Dental Bridges
What Is A Porcelain Crown?
If you know an older person, he or she may refer to a crown as a “cap.” It’s a good way to think of a crown since a crown basically provides a cap over the top of a damaged tooth. Crowns are made of porcelain and they cover the entire visible portion of the tooth down to the gumline. If a tooth has either an overly large filling or other serious damage, it may not survive if left as is. We place a porcelain crown over the damaged tooth. This prosthetic provides strength for chewing and daily use. Crowns can also cover misshapen teeth and can fill gaps between teeth. When it comes to bridges, crowns are used as anchors on each side of the missing tooth or teeth.

Dental Crown Placement Process
First, we prepare the tooth to be crowned. We remove any decay or damaged areas, and then the tooth is cleaned. Next, 1-2 mm of the tooth’s enamel is removed on all sides and on the top. Why? This is necessary to make room for the crown that will overlay the tooth. Once the tooth is shaved down, we take various measurements.

We then create a 3D image of the tooth and design your crown right in the system. We send the design information to the milling station, which takes a block of dental porcelain and mills the crown to our exact specifications. In 30 minutes or so, it’s ready. We first check your new crown for its color match with your adjacent teeth, and then we check the fit, making minor adjustments as needed. When satisfied with the fit, we’ll permanently cement the crown onto your tooth and you’re done.
Experts In The Field
Dental crowns and bridges are wholly different dental prostheses, but they do have some commonality. At Clear Lake Dental Care we use bridges to replace a missing tooth or a series of teeth. We use crowns to strengthen teeth that are compromised by a large amount of decay, cracks, or trauma. Crowns also serve as the anchors for bridges.
The only aspect of the crown procedure that involves any potential for discomfort is when the healthy tooth mass is shaved down on all sides and on top to make room for the crown to fit over the tooth while occupying the same space as the natural original tooth. Before Dr. Das, Dr. Pham, or Dr. Acevedo shave down the tooth, we first provide a local anesthetic to the tooth so that you don’t feel a thing. The second step of placing the crown is completely painless.
Afterward, there can be some slight soreness from shaving down the tooth prior to placing the crown, but it is nothing that cannot be handled easily with over-the-counter pain medication. And most patients don’t even require that.
Crowns of any type don’t require any special care, just brushing twice daily for two minutes and flossing. You do need to remember that, while the porcelain crown cannot develop decay, the underlying tooth still can. The same is true of gum disease, which can affect the underlying tooth. But as long as you’re diligent in your home care, your crowned tooth should stay healthy and happy for a couple of decades.
The lifespan of a crown can be influenced by your home hygiene. With a good home regimen, your crown should last up to 20 years.
What Is A Dental Bridge?
As the name implies, a dental bridge spans the gap created by a missing tooth or teeth. Like a bridge you drive across, a dental bridge has three parts: two crowns (called the abutment teeth) on each side of the gap and the span in the middle. In this case, the span is an artificial tooth or teeth (called the pontics). Bridges are made as a single piece and are permanently cemented onto the two abutment teeth.
This is a description of a traditional bridge, but “cantilever bridges” are used when there are healthy teeth for anchoring on only one side of the missing tooth or teeth. “Maryland bridges” are used on the front teeth.

How Is A Dental Bridge Placed?
Like our veneers, porcelain bridges require two visits to our office, but you will leave with a beautiful temporary smile after just one. First, we prepare the two abutment teeth for their crowns. Once the teeth are prepared, we take various measurements and send them to our lab to create the bridge.

While your new bridge is being prepared, we will place a temporary bridge to give you a beautiful smile while protecting your prepared teeth. When your new bridge is finished, you will come back to our office and we will make sure the bridge matches your adjacent teeth. We will then permanently cement the bridge onto your teeth to give you a beautiful, long-lasting smile.
Candidates For Crowns Or Bridges
Bridges are excellent options for replacing teeth. Crowns are a great solution for returning strength to a tooth that has serious damage and is in danger of requiring extraction. Really the only constraints on their prosthetic options are the general health of your teeth and gums. If you have issues such as gum disease, those issues need to be addressed before a bridge or crown can be placed.
Porcelain bridges do require a little special care. In addition to regular brushing, you’ll also need to floss under the bridge. You can use regular dental floss or a special proxy brush, which is a tiny brush designed to get into the spaces between teeth or under a bridge. This flossing under the bridge is necessary to remove any food that becomes lodged under it. This keeps the gums healthy. Also, the inside of the abutment teeth (the sides leading into the bridge) are vulnerable to food accumulation if you don’t floss this area.
Like our veneers, porcelain bridges require two visits to our office, but you will leave with a beautiful temporary smile after just one. First, we prepare the two abutment teeth for their crowns. That process is described above. Once the teeth are prepared, we take various measurements and send them to our lab to create the bridge. While your new bridge is being prepared, we will place a temporary bridge to give you a beautiful smile while protecting your prepared teeth.
When your new bridge is finished, you will come back to our office and we will make sure the bridge matches your adjacent teeth. We will then permanently cement the bridge onto your teeth to give you a beautiful, long-lasting smile.
The process of getting a dental bridge involves placing two crowns on the abutment teeth. That process is the same as described above for a porcelain crown. When we shave down the two abutment teeth that will hold the crowns, we locally numb both teeth, so there isn’t any pain involved. There can be some residual soreness on those two teeth, but as described with the crown procedure, it isn’t anything that cannot be handled with over-the-counter pain relievers.

Dedicated To Patient Satisfaction
Our staff does an amazing job at working with our patients because they will treat you the way that you want to be treated. Not only is our staff kind, but they are also extremely experienced and know what they are doing when they are on the job! Our job is to make you feel comfortable and feel right at home in our office!
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