Crowns

Restore your damaged tooth with a crown. This artificial tooth fits over your existing natural tooth, and seamlessly blends in with your smile.

What is a Dental Crown?

If your tooth is damaged but can be saved without requiring an extraction, our dentists may recommend placing a crown. Dental crowns can restore a tooth’s shape, appearance and function.

A dental crown is a hollow, artificial restoration that fits over the remaining part of a prepared tooth. Crowns make the tooth strong and give it the appearance of a natural tooth. Dental crowns are sometimes referred to as a cap because it covers all sides of the remaining damaged or decayed tooth. These caps restore your tooth and protect it from additional damage.

Situations That May Require a Dental Crown

We only recommend dental crown treatment in situations when a tooth has become too damaged to function properly. Here are some of the reasons our dentists may recommend a dental crown:

  • You have a root canal, large filling or broken tooth
  • A crown is needed to help hold a bridge or denture firmly in place
  • The crown connects to a dental implant
  • You wish to cover a discoloured or misshaped tooth
  • And more

How Dental Crowns are Placed

Our specially-trained dentists restore your teeth with crowns using safe techniques, tools and technology.

At Hutton Village Dental Practice, we like to give our patients the information they need to feel confident in our treatments. We have placed many crowns during our years in the industry and this is a routine procedure for the dentists at our Brentwood dental practice.

It’s up to you to decide if a crown is the treatment you want. We let you know of all of your treatment options and explain the pros and cons of each. We help you make a decision – we are happy to share our opinions, but we will never tell you what to do. Once you decide that a dental crown is the best option, we’ll schedule an appointment for the treatment. If you have any questions, please ask them, so we can help you feel assured in your decision.

Getting a crown at our dental practice is a six-step process.

  1. You are given local anaesthetic. You won’t feel any pain as we prepare your tooth and place your crown.
  2. We conservatively file down your existing tooth that needs restoration, preparing it for the crown.​
  3. We take an impression of the treatment area, including the nearby teeth. This impression helps us create your final crown customised to the dimensions of your mouth, so it fits perfectly.
  4. We place a temporary crown until we’re able to get your permanent crown and schedule you for a second visit once your crown is ready.
  5. On your next appointment, we remove the temporary crown and place your final crown, checking the fit, shape, colour, and bite​.
  6. Once you’re satisfied with the results, we cement the crown in place, and you’re free to go.

Different types of crowns

You may have heard of different materials for dental crowns. Here are some of the most common materials used for these artificial tooth restorations.

Metal crowns are typically made of gold. Due to their strength and properties they can be designed thinner than porcelain crowns. This can make gold crowns useful in cases where back teeth are already heavily worn and your dentist recommends a need to prepare teeth more conservatively. Being metal, these types of crowns do not blend in with your natural teeth.​

Porcelain crowns are the most natural-looking material. Modern porcelain crowns have stronger compositions which can be selected depending upon your individual dental needs (such as zirconium porcelain which can be used to strengthen a back crown or porcelain bridge). If you have a particular aesthetic finish in mind, please discuss this with your dentist and maybe bring some photos of your natural teeth before you may have lost teeth or had previous dental treatment done. We can work closely with our dental lab technicians to design crowns to match your natural smile.​

Composite crowns can be a useful alternative to porcelain crowns. They still look natural and tooth coloured, whilst they benefit from being made by a dental lab allowing more custom features and strength than composite restorations made directly in the mouth. They can also be more conservative than porcelain crowns. However, they will wear and stain faster over time than porcelain so are more often used in managing younger patients or as an interim stage in managing patients with significant tooth wear.​

Porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns have some structural benefits due to the natural-looking porcelain outer layer and metal sub-structure. Therefore your dentist may recommend these in certain situations but in some cases, the metal may show around the gum line.​

Dental Crowns Last Years with Proper Care

With the right care, dental crowns can last over a decade. Proper care consists of regular brushing and flossing, just like you care for your natural teeth. Your natural teeth are stronger than your dental crown, so take care when biting down or chewing. A crown will also last longer if you avoid using your teeth to open packages or cut objects.

Need More Information on Dental Crowns?

The information offered on this page gives you an overview of what to expect and how crowns work. To learn more about how crowns can benefit your oral health, book some time at our Brentwood dental practice to find out if a crown is the right decision for you.