Dental Crowns in Calgary
Restore your smile and your confidence with a dental crown restoration. Dr. Meyer uses dental crowns for restorative and cosmetic reasons, allowing you to achieve strong teeth and a stunning smile.
Dental crowns may be used to protect a frail tooth, restore a broken tooth or conceal discolouration. This bespoke dental restoration can be complete in just 2 visits to our dental practice in Calgary. Get in touch to find out more.
A crown for every restoration
Crowns are small caps that fit over natural teeth. They can be used to protect damaged tooth structures, strengthen a tooth after extensive restorative work, or simply enhance the appearance of a tooth or teeth.
Dr. Meyer uses dental crowns to help strengthen a tooth after a root canal treatment, to protect teeth that haven’t developed correctly or to complete a dental implant treatment. A dental crown may also be used on a child’s baby tooth to help strengthen it and save the space for an adult tooth to emerge correctly.
Dental crowns are also commonly used for cosmetic purposes. Tooth discolouration cannot always be remedied with teeth whitening, and when this happens, a dental crown might be the only solution. Dental crowns can also help to change the shape or alignment of teeth, although veneers would be more commonly used.
The dental crown procedure
The dental crown procedure is completed in 2 visits to Dental 360 in Calgary.
-
During the first visit, the tooth is prepared. The tooth will need to be reduced in size to make space for the dental crown. Without this essential step, the dental crown would be too large and would cause misalignment issues.
-
Once the tooth is the correct size, the iTero scanner is used to create a digital impression of the tooth and the surrounding structures. This information is immediately sent to a lab where they will get started creating your bespoke restoration.
-
Dr. Meyer will place a temporary acrylic cap to protect the tooth structure while you wait for your second appointment. This first appointment will take between 40-60 minutes.
-
When your dental crown restoration arrives in our dental office, we will invite you back for your second appointment. You can expect to wait around 1 week between your first and second appointments.
-
Now we’re ready to place your crown. The area is cleaned and dried and the dental crown is permanently cemented in place. Dr. Meyer will provide you with all the tips you need to take care of your restoration. Your second appointment should last around 30 minutes.
Zirconia or porcelain dental crowns
At Dental 360, we only place zirconia and porcelain dental crowns. We believe these materials offer the best combination of strength and resilience with a natural-looking finish.
- Zirconia is incredibly strong and it is most often used for the rear teeth. This will help the restoration to withstand the force of your bite.
- Porcelain (lithium disilicate) looks very natural and will blend in with the surrounding teeth, this is why we often choose this for the front teeth. Although strong, porcelain can be brittle, which is why we don’t recommend this material for rear teeth.
Great fitting dental crowns in Calgary
Get a terrific fit with the iTero scanner
We are proud to use the latest digital scanning technology to help us achieve the perfect, bespoke finish. The iTero scanner allows us to avoid the goopy dental impression putty method for creating dental crowns.
Your scans are sent directly to the dental lab, removing the risk of human error. Dental impression putty is prone to warping, bubbles, damage in transit, and misinterpretation at the lab. All of this can add up to ill-fitting crowns that need to be replaced. Instead, we get it right the first time with the use of digital scanning technology.
See us for your dental crown
If you think that a dental crown may be something that you need, please let us have a look. We'll help you make the right choice.
Questions you may have about dental crowns
In general, we recommend maintaining natural teeth as much as possible, but we recognize that this isn’t always possible. If a tooth is very badly damaged, we might recommend pulling the tooth and placing a bone graft to pave the way for a dental implant or a bridge.
A filling may be used instead of a crown following a root canal treatment in some cases. If there is sufficient tooth structure remaining, a filling could be used to protect the tooth. Fillings would only be used for front teeth, as the rear teeth need to be able to manage high pressure from chewing. A dental crown would be more appropriate for the rear teeth.
This will depend on the location of the crown and other lifestyle factors. A dental crown can last from 5-15 years. Porcelain crowns are strong but the material is brittle by nature; this means they are only suitable for front teeth restorations. Zirconia is very strong and suitable for rear restorations, but factors like diet and teeth grinding can cause the restoration to fail prematurely. Regular dental exams will help to ensure your dental crown remains healthy.
The dental crown procedure is not a painful one, so you shouldn’t have any pain. You might experience increased sensitivity in the restored tooth or the surrounding teeth. This should resolve in a few weeks and Dr. Meyer will give you advice on how to handle this.