Crowns and fixed bridges are permanent solutions to a number of dental problems, including missing teeth, chipped or fractured teeth, and discolored or misshapen teeth.
Unlike removable dentures, crowns and fixed bridges are permanent, so you cannot take them out. Your dentist cements crowns and bridges to your natural teeth or to dental implants on either side of the gap left behind by a missing tooth. Only a dentist can remove a crown or fixed bridge.
About Dental Crowns and Fixed Bridges
Crowns
Dental crowns cover or “cap” a tooth. A crown can strengthen a fractured, chipped or otherwise damaged tooth. Dental crowns can also improve the appearance, shape, or alignment of a tooth. Your dentist might place a crown on top of a dental implant, which is a titanium post surgically implanted in your jaw to serve as an artificial tooth root replacement for a missing tooth.
Porcelain or ceramic, crowns match the color and appearance of your natural teeth, dentists often recommend these crowns for front teeth. Gold and metal alloys, acrylic and ceramic crowns are strong, so they work well for back teeth.
Your dentist may recommend a crown for a tooth that needs a filling but does not have enough enamel to support the filling. A crown might be the right solution to help prevent the fracture of a weak tooth or to restore a fractured tooth, to cover a discolored or poorly shaped tooth, or to cover a tooth after a root canal. Dentists also use crowns to attach a fixed bridge.
Fixed bridges
A fixed bridge replaces one or more missing teeth. Gaps left behind by missing teeth can lead to misaligned teeth and a bad bite, as the remaining teeth tend to drift, rotate or shift into the empty spaces.
A fixed bridge consists of two or more crowns made from gold, alloys, porcelain, or a combination of these materials. Dental implants or the natural teeth on each side of the gap support the fixed bridge. As with dental crowns, only a dentist can remove a fixed bridge.
For more information on dental crowns and fixed bridges, contact Pardee Family Dentistry.
Follow us on Facebook!
