Dental Crowns in Salem, OR

Dental Crowns are used to restore a tooth that has had its strength compromised. Using a dental crown, sometimes referred to as a cap, Dr. King is able to encase the tooth with a shield that looks and feels like your natural tooth. A dental crown allows us, at King Dental, to extend the life of the tooth by many years. Dr. King places the dental crown, restoring the damaged tooth’s strength, shape and size.

How is the Dental Crown Placed?

Placing a dental crown requires Dr. King to first reduce the original tooth structures size. He will shave off just enough of the damaged tooth to provide room to place your new crown. He will then cement your new dental crown into place, encasing it with a strong, hard, and durable cover. This shield will protect the original tooth from further damage, including decay or breakage.

What will the dental crown look like?

Dental crowns are available in a variety of metal and/or ceramic porcelain materials. Dr. King will recommend one of the following three types of dental crowns:

•  All Metal: including but not limited to, gold crowns
•  All Porcelain or Ceramic: this material has come a long way in strength, be sure to ask about Leucite and Zirconium
•  Mixed Material: porcelain that has been fused to metal.

Each material offers different advantages and disadvantages that Dr. King will discuss with you. Together, you can determine which material is appropriate for you.

Why would you need a dental crown?

There are a variety of things that might lead to you needing a dental crown, all of them having to do with you losing a significant part of your tooth.

Sometimes poor dental hygiene is the factor behind needing a crown. If you ignore your teeth for long enough, and a significant portion of a tooth succumbs to decay, we may have to remove a large portion of the tooth in order to save it. In order to allow it to continue functioning successfully in your mouth, we will recommend a crown.

Physical trauma to teeth is a frequent cause of teeth needing crowns. Large chips and cracks can render a tooth useless and in-need of structural support that only a crown can give.

One of the most common reasons for crowns is filling failures. The large, amalgam (silver colored) fillings that were so popular for so long in the dental industry required a huge amount of the tooth to be removed in order to successfully restore the tooth. As with all dental restorations, these fillings will fail after a long period of time. When they do fail, often the only way to restore the tooth is to place a crown over it.

Regardless of why you need a crown placed, we have the experience and ability to give you the longest lasting crowns available!

For more information on dental crowns, and how we can help you save a weakened tooth, contact our Salem, OR office at: 503-588-0061