Porcelain Crowns Palm Desert

This is the newest type of dental crown. Since dentists are not generally trained in dental schools in the bonding techniques required to place these crowns, you should be careful to only have them done by trained cosmetic dentists. All porcelain or all ceramic has the most beautiful appearance. It mimics the appearance of nature to the point where it is difficult to tell that it is not a natural tooth. It takes advantage of the new bonding technology, which allows a cosmetic dentist to bond it to your tooth so that it acts like it is one piece with your tooth – it’s like an enamel replacement. An all porcelain crown costs more than gold or a porcelain fused to metal. It is metal-free, and thus satisfies the needs of patients with metal.

On back teeth, when we use bonding technology, many cosmetic dentists do what are called porcelain onlays. These are very similar to all porcelain crowns, and sometimes the terms are used interchangeably. Using the term onlay, however, means that we are grinding away less of the tooth – we leave the healthy tooth structure alone as much as possible. With an onlay, since we can keep the margins away from the gum, we greatly reduce the tendency to gum inflammation that can occur with dental crowns. It also is metal-free.

Where appearance is not a concern to you, gold could be the best choice. Since the gold metal is very workable, gold crowns are able to have a more precise fit than any other type. Gold also eliminates the slight possibility of chipping that exists with anything that contains porcelain. For simple longevity, nothing beats gold.

Porcelain fused to metal crowns have a nearly natural appearance, subject to two limitations: Because they have a metal substructure, they require the use of an opaquer under the porcelain, which makes it impossible to re-create the translucency of natural teeth.