In today’s technologically advanced world, there is no need to live with missing, damaged or stained teeth, which not only decrease your ability to chew food properly but also ruin your self-image and self-confidence.
Porcelain (or dental ceramic) dental crowns can fix affliction of tooth structure, improve your facial appearance and return your smile aesthetics. Porcelain is a particular type of ceramic that is fabricated by stacking and firing.
Porcelain Dental Crowns
Cosmetically, porcelain dental crowns are natural-colored caps that are placed over a damaged or decayed tooth. The crowns are fitted over the damaged tooth’s surface using dental cement, making the underlying tooth strong and most natural-looking.
Also referred to as all-ceramic restorations, the demand for these crowns has rapidly increased over the past decade due to their life-like translucency, bio-compatibility, strong mechanical properties as well as strength and durability characteristics.
These metal-free restorations may be more suitable for patients with metal allergies. It can be the treatment of choice for people who grind and clench their teeth (medically known as bruxism). These restorations are ideal in situations where dental decay has destroyed most of the original tooth, or in cases of acute traumatic dental injuries and severe enamel erosion.
Types
There are various types of all-porcelain crowns.
Feldspathic porcelain- The traditional porcelain often touted as the most beautiful porcelain.
The Empress Crown- The pressed glass, all-ceramic restorations.
Zirconia Crowns- The ultimate premium metal-free alternative.
E-Max Crowns- Known for its toughness and durability, it is fabricated from a single block of lithium disilicate ceramic, a high quality material.
The Procera Crown- Known for its exceptional strength.
The Lava Crown- A combination of modern and traditional techniques.
The InCeram Crown- Made of very dense and tough aluminous porcelain.
Advantages
One of the most obvious advantages is that porcelain dental crowns look far more natural and the most cosmetically pleasing than the other types.
They can be ideal for front teeth that have been weakened by decay or traumatized or having discolored fillings.
They improve your facial & smile aesthetics as well as restore tooth structure, strength, and function of your teeth.
Porcelain dental crowns, when cemented properly, can protect what is left of the tooth.
They may help a dental implant to comfortably work together with the remaining healthy teeth or hold a denture or bridge firmly in place.
If crafted correctly, these crowns can help your upper and lower teeth to meet properly and thus maintain a proper, balanced bite.
Most importantly, the problem of a dark line at the edge of the gums, a common problem with metal-fused crowns, is eliminated.
With the use of advanced processing technologies such as hot pressing and CAD/CAM (computer-aided design/computer-assisted manufacture), combined with the development of stronger porcelain materials and recent breakthroughs in adhesives, porcelain dental crowns produce more aesthetically pleasing results than metal-fused dental crowns.
Disadvantages
The biggest disadvantage of porcelain dental crowns is that they don’t have enough strength to withstand the tremendous biting forces.
They are less durable than other types of restorations and are more prone to cracking or breaking.
These restorations are used mostly for the front teeth and not usually recommended for molars and premolars since they are not designed to support a lot of biting force and chewing.
Placing these crowns require very sophisticated bonding technique which isn’t generally taught in dental schools.
Another disadvantage of porcelain dental crowns is to do with their cost.
Cost
Porcelain dental crowns are more expensive than any other option. The high quality material, the time needed to produce ceramic crowns and the requirement of a skilled dental expert to fit these caps also increase their cost. The cost of the crowns is charged according to the number of teeth covered by the caps.
