Chandler Porcelain Crowns

A porcelain crown can restore a broken or damaged tooth, giving it back its strength, vitality, and natural beauty. Sometimes dental crowns are called caps. You might need a crown because:

• You have a tooth with a large filling or decay around an existing filling that leaves the tooth susceptible to breaking or cracking.
• You have a tooth that is already broken or cracked.
• You’ve had a root canal treatment.
• You have a new dental implant.

A well-made porcelain crown will look natural and, on a front tooth, will be indistinguishable from your natural teeth. It will fit the tooth precisely, not leaving any gaps that can provide openings for decay. It should be perfectly comfortable to your bite and should have a shape that is conducive to the health of the gums.

Porcelain-on-Metal Crowns

Until recently, crowns made of porcelain layered over metal were the most popular. Early all-ceramic crowns were more beautiful, but they weren’t strong enough for many situations.

Porcelain-on-metal crowns have some disadvantages. The metal core is opaque, making it so the crown can’t mimic the translucency of a natural tooth. Also, when the gum around a porcelain-on-metal crown recedes a little over time, it will expose an obvious dark line where the tooth meets the gum. Note the images below. In the first, the patient has porcelain-on-metal crowns. In the second, her smile has been restored with all-porcelain crowns.

Metal-Free Ceramic Crowns

In recent years, dental ceramics technology has evolved. Now you can have a metal-free crown that’s just as strong as one with a metal core.

CEREC

Drs. Walden and Beavers create CEREC crowns in-office using CAD/CAM technology, so you can have them placed the same day. The process is simple. First, they will use your intraoral scans and CEREC’s software to design your crown. When the design is complete, the CEREC machine will mill the crown. The computer will control the milling process to produce, in about twenty minutes, a crown that fits your prepared tooth precisely and harmonizes perfectly with your bite.

Zirconia

Zirconia is so strong that it’s called “ceramic steel.” Unfortunately, solid zirconia, since it is milled out of a block of a single color, lacks the gradations of color present in a natural tooth. For better aesthetics, zirconia can be layered with porcelain.

To make your zirconia crown, Dr. Walden or Dr. Beavers will send your intraoral scans to a lab. There, a technician will mill the crown to fit your tooth. For layered zirconia, the technician will layer the crown with porcelain to mimic your tooth’s natural translucency and color nuances.

When your new CEREC or zirconia crown is ready, Dr. Walden or Dr. Beavers will bond it securely in place. If you take care of it with good oral hygiene and regular dental care, it will last many years.

To schedule an appointment and learn more about porcelain crowns to repair or enhance your smile, please call 480-755-1661 or use this form.