Dental caps - NewSmile Dental Perth
Dental caps or crowns?
Crowns (dental caps or tooth caps) are a very common technique to save a damaged tooth here at NewSmile Dental, you general and cosmetic family practice in Perth.
Dental caps - NewSmile Dental Perth
What exactly are dental caps or dental crowns?
Worn down and heavily filled, crooked teeth can be made over with a series of precisely designed crowns to rejuvenate your smile, and patients often find this can often have great positive impact on their self-confidence and your social life. The key is the right materials, the right skill by the dentist, and the right pre-planned smile design.
Sometimes rather than a full coverage crown, a smaller cap such as a ¾ crown or a porcelain onlay can be designed to preserve more original tooth structure. Whilst often dental crowns (or dental caps) primarily help restore your tooth’s functionality and strength, they can simultaneously transform its appearance.
Dental caps are custom-made strong “shells” that cover a prepared or reduced tooth to shape it like a natural tooth. The caps are placed over an existing tooth, specially prepared/shaped for a crown coverage, to protect it, strengthen it, change its shape, or to improve its appearance.
Dental caps - NewSmile Dental Perth
So how does a dental cap (dental crown) procedure work?
So how does a dental cap (dental crown) procedure work? Procedures for dental crowns and veneers are part of the daily routine here at NewSmile, your Perth cosmetic and general dental practice.
We restore patient’s smiles from advanced dental problems every day, and help other patients maintain their dental health. In most cases, it takes two visits to restore a tooth or teeth with a dental crown.
- Visit 1: The tooth or teeth are prepared and shaped to receive a new crown coverage. If there is any disease or old fillings in the tooth, these are corrected first. A shade of the base of the tooth is taken, as well as a shade of the desired outcome, a highly accurate impression or scan is taken, and detailed instructions are given to our local skilled technicians and dental ceramists for the crown fabrication. At the end of this visit, a temporary crown is placed to protect your tooth.
- Visit 2: The permanent crown is checked and then attached with a special adhesive to restore the tooth.
- When multiple crowns are needed or form part of an overall smile makeover or dental reconstruction, then we often recommend IV sedation (sleep dentistry) to allow lengthier treatments to be done efficiently whilst you sleep, avoiding spreading out of appointments and ensuring your absolute comfort.
Typical condition that require dental crowns or caps
Dental crowns are used for a variety of reasons:
- When you have a chipped, worn-down or cracked tooth
- When a tooth is found to be too weak, for its structural protection and longevity
- When you have discoloured or decayed teeth
- To support a dental bridge
At NewSmile Dental we are your preferred family dental practice providing all aspects of modern progressive dentistry for the Perth metro area, conveniently located in Subiaco. We always start with a detailed assessment of your situation, to then look at the most suitable treatment options, which may include dental crowns or a whole range of other options.
Dental caps - NewSmile Dental Perth
What types of dental caps or crowns are there?
There are a number of different types of dental caps. Depending on your situation and your expectations, we will guide you to make the most appropriate choice in regards to the materials they are made of:
- Metal eg. gold: long-lasting, conservative tooth modification, causing minimum wear to your other teeth but mostly used for molars only because of their colour.
- Porcelain-fused-to-metal: traditionally popular and more natural because the colour can be matched to your own natural teeth, although
- Resin: more affordable but more susceptible to wear-and-tear over time compared to crowns made of other materials.
Ceramic or Porcelain Crowns (monolithic zirconia, porcelain, or zirconia veneered with porcelain): These are our most common materials of choice, providing for optimal colour matching as well as strength and biocompatibility. We often use porcelain dental crowns/caps on front teeth, and zirconia or porcelain-zirconia on back teeth.