Crowns and Bridges

If you’ve got a tooth that’s missing completely, or almost-there and barely hanging on by a thread, you might be tempted to stress out. Fortunately, there are ways to get the full functionality of your organic teeth back, no matter what your situation is – and some of the solutions you’re about to discover don’t even involve surgery.

Specifically, we’re about to share with you 2 ways to replace a mostly-missing or completely gone tooth in a way that looks, feels and – yes – performs like it’s supposed to. The first is…

Crowns

A crown is essentially a hard cap shaped like an organic tooth. When installed, this hard cap is indistinguishable from your own natural teeth. The only difference is that it doesn’t feel pain, as it has no nerve endings. For all other intents and purposes, a crown is just another tooth once it’s been installed.

Now, when do you install a crown?

The first case is when a natural tooth has been damaged beyond repair. This can happen when a previously filled tooth collapses upon itself, leaving the root and a bit of tooth. It can also happen with hidden cavities that lead to large chunks of the tooth falling out with little warning. When this happens, you want to preserve what’s left of the organic matter. The best way to do this is by covering what’s left with a crown.

Crowns are also installed when you get a dental implant. The implant itself is just a metal screw attached to your jawbone or soft tissue; the “tooth” part of it is actually a crown.

Bridges

A bridge is different to a crown. Both consist of a tooth-shaped, hard cap – but that’s where the similarities end.

A crown is a stand-alone unit attached to surviving organic matter or an implant. A bridge consists of 1-3 tooth-shaped caps that are attached to teeth on either side. Sometimes, this means those teeth have to be filed down to make space for the bridge. More importantly, this means that a bridge is ultimately attached to other teeth, making it less durable and lifelike than crowns are.

Does this mean that bridges are necessarily inferior to crowns?

Not at all.

For the elderly, getting a crown usually means going through a long and difficult operation that can be avoided. Other times, a crown can’t be installed because the jaw can’t support an implant – or because there isn’t enough tooth material left to support it.

In all of these cases, and many others, a bridge is the clear choice.

If you’d like to find out more about crowns and bridges, as well as a free quote for doing them at our clinic, call us today at (781) 767-1400. We look forward to helping you make the best decision for yourself and your dental health!