Want to learn about quality dental crowns at our practice?
At Thomas Family Dentistry, we offer durable, natural-looking zirconia crowns to restore damaged or decayed teeth. Our restorations improve both your oral health and appearance, leaving you with a smile you’ll be proud to show off.
A dental crown is designed to enclose a damaged tooth. It restores or alters the tooth’s shape and size, while providing protection and support.
Tooth crowns in Hermitage, PA are an excellent option for correcting many problems. But before we decide if they’re right for you, we’ll talk to you about your goals so we know what it is you’d like to accomplish. Since we do offer other services like dental bonding that might be a better solution, we’ll talk to you about all your options.
Once we’ve decided a crown is right for you, your Hermitage, PA dentist will start the process by preparing your natural tooth to ensure a perfect fit for your new crown. Next, using our efficient TRIOS® 3Shape digital scanner, we’ll take highly accurate impressions of your teeth.
This state-of-the-art technology benefits you because it does away with messy, sticky (and sometimes inaccurate) impressions. Digital impressions also produce a very precise image, which actually cuts about a week off the time it takes to create your final crown. During the same appointment, we’ll also fit you with a comfortable temporary crown to wear until your final crown is ready to be placed securely over your tooth.
People most often think of crowns as being used to strengthen a weakened tooth, protect a tooth after root canal treatment, or as the final touch on a dental implant.
However, since crowns completely surround your natural tooth, they can also be used to solve esthetic problems.
All our crowns are fabricated at a high-quality dental lab to our exact specification. We don’t skimp on quality because a dental crown is an investment in time and money on your part, and we want you to be thrilled with the results.
Sensitivity/Discomfort: Sensitivity, especially to cold, is common for a time following treatment. Refrain from eating until the anesthesia has worn off to prevent possible injury to your lips and cheeks. For the first few days avoid extremely hot or cold foods and beverages. It is normal to have some discomfort in the gums around the tooth after the anesthesia wears off due to the procedure. If your gums are tender, rinse with warm salt water, dissolving ½ teaspoon of salt in an 8 oz. glass of warm water. An analgesic such as Tylenol or Ibuprofen (Advil) will help to increase your comfort.
Temporary: Having a crown or bridge made for you will take multiple appointments. A temporary crown is a plastic crown or bridge that is made the day of the crown preparation and is placed on the teeth while the final restoration is being made. The temporary serves a very important purpose. It protects the exposed tooth so it is less sensitive, prevents food and bacteria from collecting on the prepared teeth, and prevents the tooth from shifting or moving, which can make seating of the final restoration more difficult. If your bite feels unbalanced or the temporary crown feels high once your tooth wakes up from the anesthetic, please be sure to call our office for an appointment for a simple adjustment.
The temporary is placed with very lightweight cement that is designed to come off easily so avoid chewing sticky foods or crunchy foods that could dislodge or break the temporary crown. Use your toothbrush to clean the temporary as you normally do your other teeth. However, when flossing, it is best to pull the floss through the contact rather than lift up on the temporary so you don’t accidentally loosen the temporary. If your temporary comes off between appointments, slip it back on and call our office so that we can re-cement it for you. A little Vaseline, denture adhesive or a crown repair kit material (such as Dentatemp) from the pharmacy placed inside the crown can help to hold it in place in the interim.
Final Crown: After the final cementation of your restoration, it may take a few days to get used to the new crown or bridge. If your bite feels unbalanced, please be sure to call our office for an appointment for a simple adjustment.
Home Care: Although crowns and bridges are often the most durable of all restorations, the underlying tooth is still vulnerable to decay, especially at the interface between the tooth and crown. It is important to resume regular brushing and flossing immediately. Daily home care and decreasing your intake of sugar-containing foods and drinks will increase the longevity of your new restoration.
At Thomas Family Dentistry we offer multiple procedures to help with function and aesthetics. A crown procedure was performed at this patient's appointment and as you can see, he was satisfied with his overall experience. Call us today for your dental needs!
Repair Broken TeethTeeth require full coverage when they are broken, cracked, fractured or have extensive wear and decay. When teeth break/crack/fracture, the integrity of the tooth becomes compromised. Imagine trying to serve food on a broken/cracked dish! In the same way, a cracked tooth cannot endure the everyday stresses of chewing and other occlusal forces once it has been compromised like this. At this time, the tooth needs a dental crown. The crown ensures full coverage of the tooth so that it can withstand those chewing and occlusal forces.
If a tooth has extensive wear, a crown is also warranted. Fixing this problem with a filling often ends up as a temporary fix, as the filling materials just get worn through again, just as the natural tooth did, to begin with. The materials used to make our crowns are very resistant to these forces and cannot be worn through as a filling would.
Crowns are also warranted for extensive decay. Once your dentist drills out all of the decayed tooth structure, there is often very little tooth structure left to support such a large filling. When we build up large preps (the drilled out tooth) with filling material, it is very common that these large fillings fail. You may find yourself biting down on something hard and fracturing/breaking your large filling. In this case, we always recommend crown coverage. This ensures full protection of the tooth so it can withstand occlusal forces once again without risk.
Don't hesitate to contact us if you have any more questions.
A tooth becomes very weak and brittle once the root canal is performed making it susceptible to fracture. Posterior, or back teeth, usually will require a crown to complete treatment. Be sure to contact us with any dental related questions and to schedule an appointment today!
After a new filling or dental crown has been done, you are usually still numb from the local anesthetic when leaving the office. This can make it difficult to tell whether your bite feels normal when the dentist asks to make adjustments! Sometimes, patients notice that once the numbing wears off, their bite feels different after the filling or crown has been placed. This can be a relatively common occurrence. If this is something that you are experiencing, here's what to do:
*Never ignore if you feel like your bite may be off- this can cause the ligaments around the roots to become inflamed, causing soreness and pain if left too long*
If your new fillings or crowns feel sensitive following completion, this can be normal up to 6+ months. Many times, this is just caused by the manipulation of the drill and work done to the tooth. Start out trying a sensitivity toothpaste. Sensodyne is a well-trusted brand that our patients love! If the sensitivity becomes worse or more frequent after two weeks, you can always give us a call to get it looked at!
Most dental local anesthetics will wear off within a couple of hours. Generally, anesthesia will last one hour on the top and up to four hours on the bottom. If you must eat before your anesthesia wears off, choose something soft, avoid hot beverages and try to chew on the opposite side you had work done on!
For most people, dental terminology isn't that important until you actually need it! If you are wondering about some of the most common dental terms you hear, we can help!
What Are Dental Implants?Dental implants are prosthetic devices designed to replace a missing tooth. They are the most convenient and lifelike way to complete your smile after tooth loss or an extraction.
Dental implants consist of three parts:
The post is the part of the dental implant that we surgically place in your bone. Your abutment will screw into the implant and provide a foundation for your dental crown. The crown is the part that looks like a tooth and the only part that others will see when you smile. We custom design these to match your natural teeth.
A “root canal” actually refers to root canal therapy. It is the process of removing bacteria and infection from inside your tooth. A root canal can extend the life of your tooth by years – even decades.
Even though they sometimes get a bad reputation for hurting, it is actually the symptoms of the infection that cause pain, not the root canal therapy itself. We can relieve your pain with root canal therapy.
What Is a Dental Crown?A dental crown is a restoration that protects your tooth from breaking. When a tooth is damaged, it is often at a greater risk for splitting or breaking off at the gumline. A dental crown looks like a tooth and covers your tooth structure to protect it.
We can create dental crowns out of a wide variety of materials to meet your needs. Most patients prefer a porcelain crown that looks just like a natural tooth!
Are you in need of a crown, root canal or crown? Contact our office today to schedule your appointment.
Dr. Deanna Thomas is the proud owner and dentist of our practice, which she founded in 2003. With a commitment to providing exceptional dental care, Dr. Thomas has built a reputation for both her expertise and compassionate approach to patient care.
Dr. Thomas earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Penn State University before pursuing her dental degree at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine. After completing her education, she served with distinction in the U.S. Navy and Pennsylvania National Guard for 21 years, retiring in January 2016. Her ...
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