Fillings or Crowns?
Your teeth are the hardest parts of your body.
They are capable of resisting enormous forces in their daily
tasks of chewing and biting. Unfortunately, they are your only
body parts that cannot repair themselves. Your teeth can be
softened and dissolved by acids that bacteria in dental plaque can
produce. Once part of a tooth is softened, it takes a dentist to
make repairs.
The softened, decayed part of the tooth must be removed, along with a portion of the tooth that may have been weakend by the decay. Small cavities can be repaired with fillings, which can be made of metal, in the form of silver amalgam, or cast metal, such as gold. Metal fillings do not stick to the teeth, so the repaired area must be shaped so that the filling gets a grip on the tooth. Silver amalgam is compressed into the prepared hole in the tooth and hardens in place. This requires parallel internal surfaces, and undercut areas. Unfortunately, the sharp internal angles introduce stress points in the tooth, which now may be more prone to fracture under load. Fillings were intended for repairing small defects in teeth, like spackle in a wall, not for replacing large amounts of missing tooth structure.
A silver amalgam filling has been replaced with composite.
Composite fillings are tooth colored material made from plastic polymers and finely powdered crystalline particles. The tooth is prepared by removing decay and undermined tooth structure, but since the material can be bonded to the tooth, sharp internal angles can be avoided. This reduces the stress points and the possibility of fracture. Although the composite material is not quite as hard as the silver amalgam, the repaired tooth may be more durable under function in the long run.
If a tooth has had a large amalgam filling and part of the filling or tooth fractures off, you may be faced with a decision: filling or crown? A filling was intended as a relatively small repair, so if a significant part of a tooth is now damaged or missing, the tooth really needs a filling into which the whole tooth can fit; this is what we call a crown. The tooth is prepared for a crown by reducing the height and diameter. Fabrication involves use of molten metal and fused porcelain which cannot be done directly in the mouth. Accurate models must be made and sent to a laboratory for fabrication of the crown by a technician. The patient will have a temporary crown placed on the tooth while the permanent crown is made.
These procedures are more expensive than fillings. Although it is not an ideal solution, bonded composite materials are often substituted in repairing broken down teeth that would otherwise need crowns. You should discuss the choices with the dentist, as this material, properly placed, may give remarkable service. Your advantages would include much lower cost, greater reimbursement by insurance companies, as fillings are reimbursed at a higher percentage than crowns, and shorter treatment time. Large composite buildups can be placed in a single visit, and they can look very natural, with no metal showing.
The softened, decayed part of the tooth must be removed, along with a portion of the tooth that may have been weakend by the decay. Small cavities can be repaired with fillings, which can be made of metal, in the form of silver amalgam, or cast metal, such as gold. Metal fillings do not stick to the teeth, so the repaired area must be shaped so that the filling gets a grip on the tooth. Silver amalgam is compressed into the prepared hole in the tooth and hardens in place. This requires parallel internal surfaces, and undercut areas. Unfortunately, the sharp internal angles introduce stress points in the tooth, which now may be more prone to fracture under load. Fillings were intended for repairing small defects in teeth, like spackle in a wall, not for replacing large amounts of missing tooth structure.
A silver amalgam filling has been replaced with composite.
Composite fillings are tooth colored material made from plastic polymers and finely powdered crystalline particles. The tooth is prepared by removing decay and undermined tooth structure, but since the material can be bonded to the tooth, sharp internal angles can be avoided. This reduces the stress points and the possibility of fracture. Although the composite material is not quite as hard as the silver amalgam, the repaired tooth may be more durable under function in the long run.
If a tooth has had a large amalgam filling and part of the filling or tooth fractures off, you may be faced with a decision: filling or crown? A filling was intended as a relatively small repair, so if a significant part of a tooth is now damaged or missing, the tooth really needs a filling into which the whole tooth can fit; this is what we call a crown. The tooth is prepared for a crown by reducing the height and diameter. Fabrication involves use of molten metal and fused porcelain which cannot be done directly in the mouth. Accurate models must be made and sent to a laboratory for fabrication of the crown by a technician. The patient will have a temporary crown placed on the tooth while the permanent crown is made.
These procedures are more expensive than fillings. Although it is not an ideal solution, bonded composite materials are often substituted in repairing broken down teeth that would otherwise need crowns. You should discuss the choices with the dentist, as this material, properly placed, may give remarkable service. Your advantages would include much lower cost, greater reimbursement by insurance companies, as fillings are reimbursed at a higher percentage than crowns, and shorter treatment time. Large composite buildups can be placed in a single visit, and they can look very natural, with no metal showing.