Dental Crown Preparation: A Comprehensive Guide for Patients

Last updated Thursday, September 19th, 2024

Dental crowns are a wonderful way to restore a tooth’s health, strength, size, and appearance. However, as with any dental procedure, having a crown placed can lead to a lot of anxiety, especially when you don’t know much about the procedure.

Learning more about dental crown preparation will allow you to understand more about how dental crowns work and put you at ease during your appointment.

Keep reading this patient dental guide to learn everything you need to know about dental crown preparation.

Overview of Dental Crowns

Your first dental crown preparation steps involve getting a better understanding of dental crowns overall, and how they can improve your dental health.

A dental crown is essentially a tooth-shaped hat that fits over your entire existing tooth. With proper care, dental crowns can last between five and fifteen years. Some extremely durable crowns may even last between 20 and 30 years with the right maintenance.

Types of Dental Crowns

Dental crowns are made from a wide range of materials, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. You’ll need to talk to your dentist about the best option for your particular situation.

The most popular dental crown types include:

All Porcelain or Ceramic

All porcelain or ceramic crowns tend to have the appearance of natural tooth enamel the most, making them a good choice if you want a completely natural appearance.

Porcelain and ceramic are also solid options for people with metal allergies.

Porcelain-Fused-to-Metal (PFM)

PFM crowns are a combination of metal alloy and porcelain materials. The crowns are a layer of porcelain fused to metal.

The combination of materials allows for both strength and a natural appearance. It’s also fairly easy for dentists to match the color with your natural tooth color.

PFM crowns are strong and durable, but they do have drawbacks such as the porcelain coating chipping.

Metals

Metals used for crowns include alloys like platinum or gold, and also nickel-chromium metals. Metal crowns are very strong and can withstand constant chewing and biting forces and take a long time to wear down.

In addition, metal crowns don’t usually chip or break, making them a good option for anyone worried about long-term durability.

However, some people view the metallic color as a drawback since it doesn’t match the natural color of teeth. Due to this, many people choose metal crowns for molars that are generally out of sight.

Zirconia

Zirconia crowns are growing in popularity due to their strength, durability, and natural appearance. If you think about how much force you use daily to chew food, you’ll understand how durable zirconia actually is.

Zirconium is a metal that can withstand wear like cracking and chipping and also has biocompatibility, meaning it’s less likely to produce a reaction in the body like inflammation.

In addition, teeth require less preparation with zirconia crowns due to their strength. It’s also a top choice for molars in the back of the mouth as they do the bulk of the chewing.

Why Do Dentists Recommend Dental Crowns?

In most cases, your dentist will recommend a dental crown if you have a cracked or weak tooth due to large areas of decay. Other common reasons to get dental crowns include:

• Restore broken teeth that have worn down
• Cover discolored or misshapen teeth
• Hold dental bridges in place
• Cover a tooth that’s had a root canal
• Cover dental implants
• General cosmetic improvements

Crowns are also useful in children who have severe tooth decay or are at high risk for tooth decay due to medical history or other issues.

Dental Crown Procedure

Now that you understand more about dental crowns, it’s time to learn more about the procedure steps so you can better prepare. These steps include:

Initial Dental Check-Up

The very first step in dental crown preparation involves a dental health check-up to evaluate your overall dental health. Your dentist will likely take X-rays to check the roots of the tooth that needs the crown. X-rays are also useful for determining the health of the surrounding bone since conditions like gum disease can cause bone damage.

If you have problems with extensive decay or an infection, you’ll need treatments like fillings or root canals to restore your teeth first. Your dentist will also give you general dental health advice to help you improve your dental care routine.

You’ll also typically need a dental cleaning as part of your dental crown preparation since removing tartar and plaque from your teeth will make it easier for your dentist to do the work.

Finally, as part of the dental crown preparation, your dentist will determine if crowns are the best option for you and may also give you other dental restoration tips. Remember, determining the best option also involves assessing any dental fears and anxieties so your dentist can make your procedure as comfortable as possible.

Your First Visit

The most important thing you can do is make sure you feel comfortable by wearing loose, comfortable clothing on the day of your procedure. You may also want to plan for someone to pick you up and take you home if you’ll need extra anesthesia.

The time frame of a dental crown procedure depends on whether or not your dentist does same-day or multi-day dental crown procedures. Some dentists can create the crown in the office on the same day, so you’ll need to ask about these details.

The time frame also depends on your dental care plan, like how many crowns you need, and your overall tolerance to the procedure.

Regardless, the first step of your dental crown preparation involves preparing your tooth to receive a crown. To do this, your dentist will first numb the gum area and areas around the neighboring teeth. Next, they must remove parts of the natural tooth enamel to make space for the crown. Removing the enamel also ensures your crown will stay in place after bonding.

For the next step of the dental crown preparation, your dentist will then take impressions of your teeth. The impressions can be manual impressions with a putty-like material. However, nowadays, many dentists take digital impressions using a type of scanner.

These impressions are then sent to a dental lab to create a custom dental crown for you.

Temporary Crown Placement

If you need to wait for your crown, you’ll need a temporary crown placement for a few weeks to protect the area. Temporary crowns are usually made from acrylic or resin and can remain in place for two to three weeks.

It’s important to remember that temporary crowns aren’t as strong as a natural tooth or a permanent dental crown. You can still chew normally with a temporary crown, but you’ll need to avoid certain foods to prevent damage. This includes:

• Avoid crunchy and sticky foods like nuts and candy
• Avoid tough foods like uncooked vegetables
• No extremely hot or cold beverages since they can aggravate nerves
• Be careful of chewy foods like raw carrots and corn on the cob

Even eating foods like bagels and popcorn can put too much stress on temporary crowns.

You should also make extra effort to maintain good oral hygiene every day, focusing on cleaning the area around the temporary crown. Keeping this area clean helps prevent bacteria from getting between the gum line and crown, which can cause cavities.

To avoid loosening the temporary crown, brush gently around the area and be careful with flossing.

Your Second Visit

Once your permanent crown is ready, you’ll see the dentist again to remove the temporary crown and check the color and fit of the permanent crown.

If everything looks good, your dentist will then use a local anesthetic to numb the area and place the permanent crown using dental cement to bond it into place.

Once this is done, you’re free to enjoy your new crown.

Dental Crown Aftercare

Most people can return to work, school, and other normal activities immediately after the procedure.

It’s normal to experience some tooth sensitivity to hot and cold foods for the first few weeks after the procedure. You may also feel some mild pain and tenderness around the gum area of the treated tooth.

If you have discomfort, you can take over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen or acetaminophen.

Foods to Avoid

Your dentist will talk to you about the types of foods you can eat. Even though you’ll have a permanent crown, you must avoid foods that can dislodge or damage your crown. This includes:

• Hard nuts
• Popcorn with kernels
• Ice cubes
• Sticky foods like caramels

Dental Care Routine

It’s best to set a good dental routine in place as soon as you get home from the procedure. Brush your teeth at least twice daily with fluoride toothpaste and floss once daily.

Using antibacterial mouthwash will also help to decrease harmful bacteria and dental plaque.

Finally, you’ll need to get regular cleanings and exams and talk to your dentist right away about any issues that wear down crowns quickly, like grinding your teeth.

Follow These Dental Crown Preparation Essentials

Now that you know more about dental crown preparation, you’ll feel much more confident in taking the next steps.

It’s time to turn to Smiles By Hanna for all your dental health needs in the Gilbert, AZ area. Our mission is to offer comprehensive and quality dental care in a comfortable and relaxed setting. We strive to treat every patient as a unique individual with specific needs and health concerns.

We offer a range of dental services that include general and family dentistry, restorative dentistry like bridges and crowns, implants, Invisalign, TMJ therapy, sedation dentistry, and much more.

We also offer affordable single and family membership plans if you don’t have insurance. Make sure to contact us today to schedule an appointment!