Porcelain Crowns In Cupertino, CA
Here at Cupertino Dental Health, the cosmetic team of Dr. Stanley Sun and Dr. Stella Chan offers superior dental restorations made from medical-grade porcelain. This means that when you come into our office for a dental crown, you know you are getting a beautiful restoration that looks just like a real tooth. While the purpose of a crown is to protect a weak or damaged tooth, we also know how important it is for our patients to feel confident in their smiles, even when they need crowns and other dental restorations.
We want you to know that every time you smile or speak you can rest assured that no one will be able to tell the difference between your own natural teeth and the porcelain crowns we place.
Why are porcelain crowns necessary?
A crown is one of the most common restorations that we place here at Cupertino Dental Health. It’s shocking how durable teeth can be; however, everything from decay to an injury can still leave you dealing with a broken, cracked, or weak tooth. When these problems set in, you must have a dentist that you can turn to right away for restorative dentistry. Crowns are often used to,
Protect a natural tooth
Strengthen a damaged tooth
Replace a very large filling
Cover a tooth after root canal treatment
Improve the shape, color, or size of a tooth
Cover a dental implant
Support and hold a dental bridge in place
When you come into our office, we can easily determine whether or not you could benefit from a crown. While a crown is most often recommended for restorative purposes, patients also find that crowns can improve the overall appearance of one or more teeth. This can be ideal if you have a tooth that has a pitted texture, deep internal stains, or a misshapen structure.
What to Expect
Here in Cupertino, CA, we pride ourselves on crafting natural-looking restorations such as crowns that don’t just offer a perfect fit but also can improve the appearance of your smile. First thing’s first, when you come into our office, we will need to treat the underlying issue, whether that’s a cracked tooth or needing root canal therapy. Once the tooth has been treated, we can take impressions of your mouth.
These impressions will ensure that you get a dental crown that offers a superior and comfortable fit. While your permanent crown is being made, you will wear a temporary crown. In just a couple of weeks, you’ll come back into the office we were can place the restoration over your tooth for a crowning finish.
About Porcelain Crowns
Porcelain crowns are light, thin, wafer-like dental devices that are shaped and sized to fit you’re your existing teeth. The porcelain material is extremely strong, resists scratches and doesn’t stain like your natural teeth. Having crowns installed requires a minimum of two appointments. With good care, a new set of porcelain crowns can last for 20 years or longer before they need to be updated. Good care includes regular checkups, brushing, flossing, avoiding direct contact with hot beverages and eating the right foods.
Creating Crowns
Crowns are created in a laboratory using impressions of the patient’s smile that are taken by the dentist. Before the impressions can be made, the Cupertino dentist must first prepare each tooth in the treatment plan to make room for the crowns. The entire process of creating the crowns commonly takes a few weeks, after which the patient is called back in for an appointment to have them bonded.
With crowns a patient can get a complete smile makeover, no matter how their original teeth are shaped, spaced or colored. For instance, if a patient has spaces between their teeth, a larger crown covering can be made to fill in those spaces. The crowns are also colored and sculpted to perfection, to give you a smile that best fits your facial features. This is why so many Hollywood stars opt for this cosmetic procedure.
Crowning or Capping a Tooth
Crowning or capping a tooth will usually take two to three visits. At the first visit, your tooth is prepared to receive its new crown. First, it is shaped to fit inside the new covering. This will involve some drilling to give the tooth a uniform shape. The tooth and the surrounding area will be numbed beforehand. If there is very little tooth structure left to begin with, the tooth may have to be built up with filling material, rather than filed down, to support the crown.
After the tooth is prepared, impressions of your teeth are taken, either digitally or with reliable, putty-like impression materials, and sent to the dental laboratory. There, the impressions will be used to make models of your teeth for the creation of a crown. The models will serve as guides to the highly skilled lab technicians, who will ensure that your new crown is designed to enhance your smile and function well within your bite.
Before you leave the office, a temporary crown will be attached to your tooth to protect it until the permanent crown is ready. At the second visit, your permanent crown will be attached to your tooth with either a resin that hardens when exposed to a special light source, or a type of permanent cement.
Caring for Your Crowns
Crowns require the same conscientious care as your natural teeth. Be sure to brush and floss between all of your teeth — restored and natural — every day to reduce the buildup of dental plaque. When you have crowns, it is even more important to maintain your regular schedule of cleanings at the dental office. Avoid using your teeth as tools (to open packages, for example). If you have a grinding habit, wearing a nightguard would be a good idea to protect your teeth and your investment.
Have extensive tooth decay, worn teeth, or fracture and need Porcelain Crowns?
Then call our office today at (408) 257-5150 for more information or to book an appointment
We serve Cupertino, Santa Clara, West San Jose, CA and surroundings!