Dental Crowns

By Author: Dr Mark Nieh
Total Articles: 1
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Dental crown is a restoration that works like a helmet that protects or encircles a tooth from vertical split. It basically restores a heavily broken down tooth. Different types of materials can also be used to make dental crowns such as stainless steel, gold, porcelain fused to zirconia (PFZ) or metal (PFM), monolithic ceramics and hybrid ceramics.

At Chatswood CBD Dental, they offer these types of materials:

Gold Crown
Gold alloy material is extremely resilient and wears at a rate similar to tooth structure when used as a dental restorative. It is one of the most popular choices amongst restorative dentists and specialists.

Porcelain fused metal crown (PFM)
Dental ceramic can be fused to a thinner metal coping to mimic the aesthetic of a tooth. The combined thickness of metal coping and porcelain meant that the crown will either be quite bulky, or more tooth structure need be cut away to accommodate the thicker crown layer. Also, the porcelain is prone to cracking and wears which overtime exposes the metal coping and becomes less aesthetic. This type of crown is still the most popular type ...
... of crown used in Australia but the drawbacks led its decline in preference amongst dentists.

Porcelain fused zirconia crown (PFZ)
This type of crown uses a thin zirconia coping (strongest dental ceramic available) and porcelain fused to its surface to provide its aesthetic. Zirconia has the advantage over metal coping in that it looks more like teeth than metal coping.

Monolithic zirconia crown
Zirconia is an extremely rigid and strong ceramic and can withstand most dental functions with little risk of fracture. This exudes a slight metallic tinge and is insufficiently translucent due to its nature of material (metal crystal oxide). This option eliminates the risk of porcelain chipping and the crown can be made thinner than PFZ or PFMs.

Monolithic Emax Crown
This is currently one of the most used dental ceramic in the world for its strength and aesthetic properties. It can be modified to enhance its aesthetic properties via cutback layering, staining, or simply just match adjacent teeth’s colour.

Hybrid Ceramic Crown
This is a new age material, which combines the resiliency of dental resin and the hardness and aesthetic of dental ceramics. It has a kinder wear to natural teeth for dental grinders and decent aesthetic and strength to be used in most circumstances.