Crowns
 before
after
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Crowns (often referred to as "Caps") are a means of restoring teeth to their original strength and beauty. Natural teeth are incredibly strong and are able to withstand a century of hard use. However, decay and fillings can weaken teeth and make them prone to breakage. When this occurs, the tooth can be restored to its original strength and beauty with a crown. A crown can be made of solid gold; porcelain layered over metal; or solid porcelain that is placed over the remaining structure of an old tooth.
The treatment performed on this patient shows both porcelain layered over metal crowns and all porcelain crowns that were placed on all of the patient's back teeth. In the before picture, notice the discoloration and cracking in the patient's original teeth that had been weakened by old fillings. Also notice that the back teeth are in "crossbite" (the upper teeth are overlapping the bottom teeth). The after picture shows the back teeth after all of them were crowned. Notice that the "crossbite" was also corrected. As this example illustrates, crowns made by modern techniques and technology are indistinguishable from natural teeth. Also notice that the patient's upper front teeth look different in the after picture. Those teeth were restored (or fixed) using porcelain veneers (see PORCELAIN VENEERS). The lower front teeth were not treated. |
