Dental crowns are a great way to restore the feel and function of your natural teeth. If you have a tooth that has been damaged by decay, a dental crown can be a great way to improve your smile, too.
You may be wondering if you have time to get a crown. After all, at a lot of dental offices getting a crown requires you to make multiple visits. It’s hard enough to schedule one visit with your busy schedule.
At Beaumont Family Dentistry in Lexington, we’ve invested in technology that makes getting a crown easier on you and your schedule. For a vast majority of our patients in Central Kentucky, we can craft and bond your dental crown in one day.
Dental crowns in one day
If you get a crown at many offices, the dentist will create an impression of your teeth during your first visit.
After that, the dentist will reshape your tooth so that it can be fitted with a crown. The dentist will put a temporary crown on your teeth at that point.
You will go home while an outside laboratory makes your crown. If you think waiting for the cable guy to show up is bad, then try to imagine what it’s like waiting for the call that your replacement tooth is ready.
When that call does come, the dentist will bond the crown to your tooth, and you can go on with your daily life.
If you have a job or family obligations, making time for two separate visits to the dentist may not be as easy as it sounds, however.
At Beaumont Family Dentistry, we understand that. That’s we improved the process with CEREC dental crowns. CEREC is short for ceramic reconstruction, but it also means a much shorter wait time for our patients.
When you come to our office for a dental crown, we make a digital image of your teeth. We send that image to our on-site mill.
Just like other dentists, we will begin reshaping your tooth so it can be fitted with a porcelain crown. Meanwhile, our in-office milling machine will create your dental crown. Then, the employees in our lab will reshape the crown and color it to make your natural teeth.
Doing this work in our office saves you from having to wait for days on end for your tooth replacement.
As we mentioned, most CEREC dental crowns are made entirely of porcelain, although some do have cubic zirconia in the middle to give them added strength and stability.
Either way, this is different than many other dental crowns, which are made of metal with a porcelain covering. If you have a metal allergy, this is yet another reason CEREC crowns are a good option.
Porcelain is used in many dental treatments because it looks like your natural teeth. Porcelain is also strong enough to withstand the things you normally do with your teeth. That means you can keep eating all the foods you love when you get your dental crown.
Why you may need a dental crown
Dental crowns serve two purposes. Cosmetically, they restore the appearance of your teeth. Functionally, they allow you to continue using your teeth as if all of them were still natural.
The staff at Beaumont Family Dentistry will be happy to discuss if a dental crown could work for you. Here are a few reasons you may want to have that conversation:
- Tooth decay — You know that tooth decay is bad for your teeth. If it is left untreated, you may need to have a tooth removed or the decay can spread to other teeth.
In some cases, our dentists can reshape your tooth by removing the parts that have been damaged by decay. This preserves the healthy parts of your tooth and allows us to bond your dental crown in place.
- Broken tooth — A tooth with a chip may make you feel self-conscious. A dental crown is a great way to change that by give you the appearance of a complete tooth once again.
- Discolored tooth — Even without tooth decay, you may have a tooth that has become discolored due to stains or worn down enamel. A dental crown can improve the appearance of that tooth.
- Weak tooth — A tooth that has been damaged by decay or trauma may not be as strong as it used to be. This can affect your ability to bite and chew your food. A dental crown can restore your biting and chewing power, and it can protect your tooth from further damage.
A fast, effective solution
CEREC same-day dental crowns give you back the look and feel of real teeth in less time than traditional crowns. Our porcelain crowns save you time, and they may be saving your teeth as well.
To make an appointment, fill out our online form or call any Beaumont Family Dentistry office in Lexington.