What are Crowns?

Crowns can be made entirely of porcelain, ceramic, gold, or a combination of these materials. Each crown is custom made, individually, by our laboratory. Placing your new crown is a straightforward procedure that takes two appointments.

Crowns can be placed to help restore lost tooth tissue aiding in strengthening the underlying tooth structure thus making it less susceptible to fracture or it can be used for cosmetic reasons as an alternative to braces, orthodontic treatment or whitening.

Types of Crowns

Porcelain and All-Ceramic Crowns

Porcelain crowns are individually crafted by our laboratory technicians from the 3D image taken by the TRIOS Scanner. The technician starts with a small tooth framework called a “coping” and then will layer porcelain with a small brush until the structure of the tooth is formed. They use layers of porcelain of different shades to get the most exact shape, form and colour of your surrounding dentition so that the crown looks completely natural. It is then fired at very high temperatures in a furnace to make it strong. This is a complex and time-consuming process and requires years of experience to get perfection. All ceramic crowns are hard and durable providing strong support. Because there is no metal involved, ceramic crowns are more aesthetic in appearance, giving them a much more natural look, they can be shaded and shaped to improve the existing appearance of your natural teeth if that is what is desired.

Gold Dental Crowns

Gold crowns are made of a high gold alloy and are created by very experienced clinical technicians from 3D scans taken inhouse. In some cases we may recommend an all-gold crown because of the unique properties of gold. Gold is highly biocompatible and strong. It tends to wear at the same rate as natural teeth, so it won’t impact on the teeth around it which is a great option for a tooth grinder (Bruxism).

Replacing Missing Teeth

Few people realise the various complications that can derive from loss of a single tooth and they can vary in severity between individuals. Tooth loss can result in serious conditions such as unwanted contacts, joint problems, mobility of teeth, gaps between teeth, extrusions of opposing teeth, drifting and tilting of adjacent teeth, gum inflammations, cavities and abscesses on the remaining teeth.

Tooth loss therefore has both aesthetic and functional consequences. Edentulism or absence of teeth causes a progressive reabsorption of the maxilla and jaw due to the lack of stimulation by the teeth. The progressive bone resorption causes changes in both the external and internal appearance. Not being able to produce that, the complete prosthesis loses fit and mobility which can be uncomfortable for both chewing and speech. The reabsorption of the maxillary bone will also cause the appearance of wrinkles in the nasal and sub nasal grooves and the jaw will move forward. For its part, the reabsorption of the mandibular bone will generate wrinkles in the neck and cause the jaw to move backwards. Bone resorption occurs both at the maxillary and mandibular areas which will reduce the distance between the chin and the nose resulting in a more aged appearance. It is therefore important to replace the missing teeth to avoid or reduce the physiological advance of bone resorption.

At Keith Nelson Associates we are highly experienced in the replacement of missing teeth. Our aim is to replace teeth to maximise aesthetics and function so that it looks like the teeth were never lost. We replace most missing teeth with removable dentures, fixed bridges (“bridges”) or dental implants. A bridge is a restoration whereby an artificial tooth or teeth is/are attached to crowns placed on two or more adjacent teeth. A dental bridge is either made entirely from porcelain or from porcelain bonded to a metal substructure.

Bridge Over Natural Teeth

Dental Implants to Replace a Single Missing Tooth

When a tooth is so damaged that cannot be restored and it must be extracted, a solution to replace the missing tooth is the immediate implant placement. Once the tooth is extracted, the bone is drilled progressively with different bur sizes according to the width of the implant that needs to be placed. When the implant is already placed, a healing abutment will be screwed on it and maintained during the integration period of the implant to the bone. After this time, the healing abutment is removed and impressions are taken to make the prosthesis that will be placed on the implant. In some cases it is also possible to place the prosthesis on the implant simultaneously to the implant placement, this is called an immediate implant with immediate loading.

Dental Implant or Bridge?

By placing the implant in the area of the extracted tooth will help to keep the bone and soft tissues at an optimal level. In order to do a bridge it is necessary to prepare the adjacent teeth, even if they are healthy, to cement the bridge over them. With both methods we can get good cosmetic and functional results. Sometimes the bridge is the only solution in cases where it is not possible to place implants.