Philadelphia dentist, Dentist in Philadelphia, PA

The patients in the pictures above each have a front crown fabricated with fifty year old technology. Please read the following short discussion about how dentistry has learned to create beautiful, natural looking crowned teeth.

Also take a look at the before and after picture following the text.

Porcelain Crowns

Crowns, also called caps, are tooth shells that completely cover and protect a broken and/or damaged tooth. They are made to look life like with a covering of porcelain on the outside.

Until the last fifteen or twenty years, dentistry relied on technology that used white or gold colored metal on the inside of the crown for fit and strength, and the porcelain on the outside as mentioned. Porcelain by itself was too weak and broke too easily.

The problem with this technology is two-fold.

One, it is very difficult to impossible to cover a metal material with porcelain and still get a natural looking crown/tooth.

As in the pictures above, these crowns tend to look opaque, more like primer paint over a dark wall than a more naturally colored paint over a white wall.

Two, even though the lab covers the gold all the way to the edge of the crown and we dentists tuck this edge just under the gumline, the light blocking property of metal often creates a slight shadowing at the gumline...see the top left picture.

So what is the answer to this dilemma?

Modern, all porcelain crowns!

Simply, because there is no metal underneath, the crowns look beautiful and natural. Modern porcelain is strong and will not break. And, since there is no metal, we do not have to tuck the edges under the gumline to hide a shadow; there is no shadow.

If you unfortunately have need of a front tooth crown, be at least a little thankful that dentistry now has the technology to create a long lasting, natural looking 'tooth'.

(At our office you can now have your smile computer simulated!!!)