Dentist Near Pennant Hills
Dental crowns and bridges are considered restorative dental treatment and it is a cap or helmet that covers a damaged tooth or to cover an implant. Crowns are individual and can only cover one tooth, while bridges are one entity of a couple of crowns joined together. Bridges are usually used if you have one or more teeth missing. The missing space will be filled by the bridge and it uses the neighbouring teeth on either side as anchor points.
There are numerous reasons why a patient will need a crown or a bridge. Some examples are to protect the tooth after a root canal therapy, to replace a large filling that doesn’t have enough tooth structure, restore and protect a fracture tooth, to cover an implant or to cover a tooth that is poorly shaped or discoloured. If you are from around Pennant Hills you can visit the dental practice at Hornsby Dental Clinic to discuss your options and treatment for a crown or a bridge.
There are a couple dentists in Pennant Hills, but at dentist Hornsby we are able to do one visit crowns and bridges if your case is suitable. This is possible due to the CAD/CAM (computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing) technology available at Hornsby Dental Clinic, a dentist near Pennant Hills. This CEREC CAD/CAM machine allows the dentist to design and create the crown or bridge while the patient is in the chair. Not only saving chairtime for the patient and dentist but reducing the unit cost and making the crown and bridge more affordable.
The materials available for the one visit crown are Emax that is made out of lithium disilicate and Cerasmart which are resin/ceramic hybrids. Both are able to deliver a well fitted, durable and aesthetic pleasing result. The only difference between the two materials is that Emax requires furnacing or baking which makes it stronger than Cerasmart. Hence making Cerasmart not ideal material to use for back molars where excessive biting is required.
As for bridges Emax is generally used and at most it can make up to 3 units, meaning three crowns are joined together. The two teeth on both ends are called abutment and they are served as anchors for the bridge. The middle part of the bridge is called a pontic and they are to replace the tooth and the missing gap between the teeth. Anymore than 3 units will need to be sent to a dental laboratory to be made.
Other crown and bridge materials are metal and porcelain fused metal, these materials are made in a dental laboratory and the patient will need 2 visits for this treatment. The cementation for either house made CAD/CAM crown or lab made crown is the same. The prepared tooth will be cleaned and etched to provide a good surface for the crown to bond on. Then a dental cement which is light sensitive will bond the tooth together. A curing light will be used to help with this process to make sure all surface area of the tooth is cured and hardened. The same process also happens with a bridge, but the cementation will be done on the abutments on either ends of the bridge.