• as a protective cover for badly decayed teeth or fractured teeth
• as a permanent restoration for teeth with large fillings
• to correct minor problems in natural teeth like spacing and irregular shape or severe discolouration.

What are crowns made from?

Crowns can be made from a variety of materials.  They can be made from plastic, ceramic or metal alloys.  A combination of metal and ceramic is also possible to maximise strength and simulate the appearance of natural teeth. New materials are being developed all the time.

The most common are:

• Porcelain bonded to precious metal. Most crowns are made from this. The  porcelain on the outside looks like tooth and it is fused to precious metal on the inside which gives it strength. They are strong and look like natural teeth. The downside of these crowns is that you can in some cases over a period of many years , due to small  changes in the gum position  get a dark line showing at the junction of the crown and tooth , This is not usually a problem,  but at the front  of the mouth it doesn’t look great particularly if you show the tops of your teeth when you smile. The only way of getting rid of this line is by replacing the crown. The very newest all ceramic crowns don’t have this this problem.
• All Ceramic crowns . These is a relatively new material. It looks much more like natural tooth because of the way the light passes through it. We get some fantastic cosmetic results with this. Really beautiful, life like crowns. The material is very strong which means it is suitable for most people in most areas of the mouth. It is more expensive.
• Gold Crowns. Shiny yellow gold is a brilliant material for making crowns. It is strong and very useful where we have short teeth at the back, with not a lot of space to play with. Not everyone however wants to show gold when they smile so it is usually used on back molar teeth.