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Everything You Need to Know About Dental Crowns

Crowns are the multi-taskers of dental work—they do everything from protecting a banged-up tooth to enhancing your smile. We talked to Dr. Chris Lee, a dentist and director of the emergency recall clinic at Dalhousie University’s Dentistry Faculty Practice, to get the whole tooth…er, truth.

By Jaclyn Law for readersdigest.ca

When is a dental crown needed?

Crowns, also known as caps, help protect a tooth that has been damaged, such as one with a big filling in it. “We rely on what’s left of the tooth after the cavity has been removed—or the tooth has been broken—to hold on to the filling,” says Dr. Lee. “If you have a tooth that’s 50 per cent filling, there’s less tooth to hold it. When you’re chewing, you can break the remaining tooth structure. A crown is a cover that goes over the entire tooth and protects it from breaking any more.”

Other candidates for a dental crown include teeth that have had a root canal, teeth that are badly deteriorated, or teeth that are crooked, discoloured or misshapen.

Dentists can also put crowns on dental implants. “If someone’s missing a tooth, we put an implant in the jaw,” says Dr. Lee. “The crown or cap is the part you can see.”

Tags: teeth | oral health guide | healthy | dentist.

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