Types of Dental Crown Material

Dental crowns are something none of us want, do we? But after a painful root canal, they are the only hope―from decay in the same tooth. Some people unfortunately break their teeth. Again, the only saviors are dental crowns. The materials used in making these crowns, determine their price.

Most of us don't want mental as it really doesn't look nice. Imagine opening your mouth to eat something or to smile, and suddenly something sparkles right from within. Naaahhh! But then, what are the options?

People say this is the best material. It consists completely of a sole piece of alloy. The gold crown not only consists of gold, but also platinum, silver, palladium, tin, or copper. Gold, palladium, and platinum are noble materials, while silver, copper, and tin are base metals. The quality of this material depends highly on the amount of noble content.

More the noble content, better the quality of the material. To be called a high noble crown material, the material should comprise at least 60% of noble material. Again, 40% of this should be gold. This parameter has been set by the American Dental Association.

This material is mostly used for front teeth restorations. A porcelain veneer is fused on the metal shell with the help of a high heat oven.

The metal does its job by providing compression on the base, while the porcelain makes the crown resemble an original tooth. In most cases, the crowns are bare metal in places that are not visible to the naked eye. Color of the porcelain can be matched with that of nearby teeth.

This material is a wonderful example of the progress in cosmetic dentistry. It is formed by a method known as CAD/CAM. In this method, computer technology is used to capture a photographic image of the tooth that needs the crown, after it has been prepared. This image is photographed after taking into consideration the necessary measurements.

The dentist can make changes to this computerized photographed model, and then send the information electronically to any local milling machine. This machine then uses diamond burs and mills the restoration from an ingot. After sometime, the restoration comes out of the machine, completely prepared.

This material is a bit similar to a lost-wax technique, wherein a hollow investment design is made. But, this is the only similarity you will find. A pressure-injected leucite-reinforced ceramic is then sort of pressed inside the mold. This is done by using a pressable porcelain oven. The entire effect will make you feel as if this restoration has been cast.

This material was introduced in 1989 by Vita. The delicate, completely ceramic crown was infused with glass to manufacture or produce this material, which was thought better than the earlier one. This is also used as a temporary material for dental crowns.

This material method is owned by Nobel Biocare and is called Procera Allceram. It is a CAD/CAM-based method and produces not only crowns, but also veneers and dental bridges.

The procedure applied here is to overlay the durable or long-lasting ceramic coping of alumina (or even zirconia) with Vitadur Alpha porcelain. It was introduced in 1991 and is one of the latest materials.

Your dentist will suggest a material after taking into consideration your budget, position of the tooth in question, and its condition.