What Are Better Dental Caps or Dental Crowns?

January 1, 2022

Are you trying to understand whether your damaged teeth will receive better protection with reinforcement from dental crowns? When you visit your dentist to inquire about the crowns, the professional may refer to these restorations with you as caps that help strengthen a damaged or weak tooth from breaking apart from decay, damages or injuries.

Dentists have used the term tooth cap to describe dental crowns for quite some time because crowns resemble caps that entirely encase your damaged tooth after preparation by the dentist to accommodate the dental crown. In reality, the terms crown and caps are used by dentists to describe this excellent therapeutic option for damaged teeth besides many other reasons.

Why Have You Received a Recommendation for Dental Crowns?

Dental crowns serve various purposes, from protecting weak teeth due to decay from breaking or keeping a weak tooth if it has cracked. In addition, a tooth crown helps restore a broken or severely worn down tooth. If you have a tooth with a large filling without sufficient tooth structure remaining, you receive help from dental crowns to cover the tooth. Dental crowns are also useful for cosmetic purposes allowing you to encase a misshapen or severely discovered tooth in your mouth.

Besides, the above dental crowns also help hold a dental bridge in place and cover dental implants if you have lost your teeth and want realistic-looking artificial teeth. That said, we must clarify the difference between dental caps and crowns in Whitby, ON, is negligible because none exists. Caps and crowns are both similar, and the only difference is the way dentists describe them.

What Other Options Do You Have Two Encase Your Damaged Teeth?

Sometimes if you don’t need a dental crown to encase your entire tooth, your dentist recommends Onlays, also known as three-fourth crowns, not covering the whole of the underlying tooth. Traditional crowns cover the entire tooth. However, Onlays may be an appropriate solution if you have a strong tooth structure. Onlays are considered a conservative option than the full coverage offered by dental crowns. If your dentist thinks Onlays are suitable for you, removal of the affected area of your tooth is all that is required instead of reshaping your entire tooth.

Dentists could perhaps be referring to Onlays on occasions when they refer to crowns as tooth caps.

What Materials Help Make Dental Crowns?

Various materials like metals, including gold, porcelain fused to metal, and ceramic, help make dental crowns appear natural and resemble your natural teeth. You can choose whichever material you want for your restorations after discussing the matter with your dentist to consider the location of the damaged tooth, the cost of the dental crown, your aesthetic preferences, and any other questions you have in your mind. However, you must prepare yourself to visit the Whitby dentist at least two times before you can get your restorations over the damaged tooth.

Getting Your Dental Crowns

During your first visit, the tooth needing the crown undergoes an examination by the provider, who takes x-rays of the tooth and bone surrounding it. After that, you receive local anesthesia in your mouth for the tooth reshaping procedure, which can either be minimal or extensive. If you have chosen metal crowns, comprehensive tooth structure removal isn’t required because metal crowns are thinner. However, if you are getting dental crowns over your front teeth and have chosen ceramic, you must undergo extensive tooth structure removal to accommodate the dental crowns.

After reshaping your tooth, the dentist impressions it for the dental laboratory to create your customized restoration requiring at least three weeks. Your prepared tooth receives protection from a temporary crown that the dentist provides to wear in the interim.

You can revisit the provider’s office after three weeks when the laboratory has returned your permanent crown. You receive local anesthesia during the second visit as your provider removes your temporary crowns and examines the permanent restorations for colour and fit. If everything is acceptable, the dentist permanently bonds the crown over your tooth using special dental cement. The procedure for getting dental crowns requires nearly three weeks and may seem uncomfortable when you receive local anesthesia in your mouth. However, the tooth caps protect your damaged tooth comprehensively, ensuring it is not exposed to further damage.

If you still have apprehensions between the terms caps and crowns, we suggest you visit Brooklin Village Dental Care for any clarifications you need and get the caps over your teeth as soon as possible.

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