From improving cosmetic issues to restoring missing teeth, dental crowns and bridges offer important benefits to your oral health. Your Newberg, OR, dentist, Dr. Angela Toy of Arbor Hills Dental, helps her patients keep their smiles attractive and healthy with crowns and bridges. Read below to learn more!
How can crowns and bridges improve my smile?
Your teeth are strong, but they aren't invincible. After years of use, it's not unusual to experience a crack or discoloration in a tooth or even lose a tooth. Fortunately, crowns and bridges offer an effective way to restore your smile.
Crowns, also called caps, cover the parts of teeth visible above your gums, including your imperfections. Before you receive your crown, your Newberg dentist will file down your tooth to ensure that there's enough room for the hollow crown to fit over it. Crowns are designed to withstand 10 to 15 years of wear and are made of durable materials, such as porcelain, porcelain-fused-to-metal, ceramic, or resin.
Crowns are also used in bridges, restorations that replace missing teeth. Crowns are attached to one or more artificial teeth and are used to anchor the bridge on either end.
Crowns or bridges can help you:
- Transform Your Smile: Whether you're concerned about a discolored tooth or want to change the shape or length of a tooth, a crown will completely alter its appearance. Crowns are a good choice if one tooth just doesn't look like the others in your mouth or a few teeth have become shorter because you grind your teeth while you sleep.
- Prevent Cracks from Worsening: A cracked tooth can eventually become a fractured tooth if you don't protect it with a dental crown. The crown absorbs biting forces and spreads them over the surface of the crown, safeguarding the tooth underneath.
- Protect Fragile Teeth: Crowns protect teeth weakened by age, trauma, large fillings, or root canal therapy.
- Restore Damaged Teeth: Fractures and breaks can occur if you receive a blow to the face while playing your favorite sport or fall and hit your teeth. Exposing the broken edges of your teeth to the air can be very painful, but that's not the only problem caused by the injury. A broken tooth detracts from your appearance and may make it challenging to chew foods. Luckily, no one will ever be able to tell that you have broken your tooth after you receive a dental crown.
- Fill Gaps in Your Smile: There's no need to feel self-conscious about your missing teeth. Adding a bridge to your mouth improves your appearance as well as your ability to bite and chew.
Boost your smile with crowns and bridges! Call your Newberg, OR, dentist, Dr. Angela Toy of Arbor Hills Dental at (503) 538-2143 to schedule your appointment.