Porcelain Crowns
Also known as Porcelain Caps

They are obviously made of porcelain, but other materials can also be part of the crown. Today the technology is changing constantly. Your dentist needs to be aware of the best possible porcelain crown for your set of needs. Let me explain:

Porcelain crowns are very good because they add strength to your tooth if there was a big cavity. You may benefit from a porcelain crown if you have a big filling, a large amount of decay, or many years of tooth erosion, tooth abrasion or tooth wear. (See Nancy 's upper and lower teeth ) Crowns can last for many years. I have personally seen crowns that were 40 years old. You don't always have to have a full porcelain crown, you may be best served with a porcelain veneer, or porcelain overlay.

Advantages

A porcelain crown is a complete covering of your tooth from the gum line. High tech dentistry can change the shape of your teeth, the color of your teeth, make your teeth smoother, make your teeth far better looking and make them last a lot longer. Porcelain crowns do not stain, can make your crooked teeth look straight in two weeks and add strength to your teeth. (See Carolyn's lower teeth )

Disadvantages

You picked the wrong dentist to do them for you.

Black Lines - (See Carolyn's upper teeth )

Patients think porcelain crowns are bad because they can see black lines near the gum. The black lines are because the porcelain crowns that you have are also made with metal under the porcelain. The metal turns black over time. Today porcelain crowns do not have to have metal !!

Solid Porcelain Crowns

Also called Porcelain Jacket Crowns, Procera Crowns, Empress Crowns, Wol Ceram Crowns, Lave Crowns, Cerec Crowns, Cerinate Crowns, Di Vinci Crowns, etc. Although they are very different in characteristics, strength, and cosmetics, they are all called porcelain crowns. Your dentist needs to know which one is right for you. (See Greg for "the Dental Face Lift ®" with porcelain crowns).

What to Look For?

A dentist - ceramist team that work well together and that have results of real patients that prove their ability and talent. (See Lois for balanced sizes of teeth) You want a dentist that is a Master of the Academy of General Dentistry . You want to see full face photos of the patient's that the dentist actually treated. (Some dentists buy photos to show examples.) You don't want a dentist because he or she is in a picture next to a movie star.