How does a crown on the tooth work?!


Question: How does a crown on the tooth work?
I had an accident two years ago and smacked my teeth and the tooth next to the upper front one is ruined. It's all bent and I lost half of it. I had a filling and they put white stuff on my tooth to fill the tooth back to it's normal shape. Well my dentist said she will fill it this time but there's a high chance that the filling will come out and then she would have to put a crown on my tooth.

So last week I noticed the filling had gone weird and had alot of decay like the tooth has gone black so I have an appointment with the dentist on Tuesday for a crown. So my questions are

What is a crown?
How do they do it?
Do they pull my ruined tooth out or something?
How long will it take?
And does it hurt?

Thanks!!

Answers:

A crown is an artificial tooth that goes over the real one. They don't pull the tooth, they grind it down to a little 'peg'. Then they make a 'cap' that goes over the peg, covering it right down to the gumline. They don't pull the tooth, the use the natural root of the tooth to hold the crown.

The cap is made of ceramic, if it's a front tooth, so it looks like a real tooth. They can even match the color of your other teeth. In the back, caps are usually made of gold because its 'softer', it gives more, so you can chew on it without as much fear of it breaking or chipping.

In the first visit the dentist grinds down the tooth, then fits a temporary crown. Then he/she makes an impression of your mouth and sends it to a lab that makes the crown. In a week or so you come in and she cements the crown in place.

You can only fill a tooth so many times. Each time the hole must be made bigger, so it weakens the tooth, and the filling doesn't strengthen the tooth. So after a number of times they go for a crown, which is permanent. Usually.

It's no more painful than any other dental procedure. The dentist has to make a sort of groove around the tooth in the gum tissue, and this gets sore after the anesthetic wears off. Then when she installs the crown, she has to go around the tooth carefully, scraping off all the excess adhesive, and that can be time-consuming and annoying. But it's no worse than having a filling or whatever.




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