Dental crowns are protective coverings for teeth that are weak, damaged, or have cosmetic imperfections. This restorative procedure can offer additional strength and durability to your teeth so they are protected from breakage when you chew.
However, there are different types of dental crowns, so which should you choose? Read on in this blog from Wojtowicz Dental to learn more about same-day and traditional crowns.
A traditional dental crown, also known as a lab-made crown, is fabricated by a lab specialist in an outside dental lab using impressions that are taken of your teeth and a shade guide that is used to match the crown to your natural teeth.
During your consultation, we will help you determine which crown material is best suited for you based on your aesthetic and restorative goals. The lab-made crown process involves trimming your tooth to create an ideal size and shape for a crown to fit over top.
Then, physical or digital impressions are taken of your tooth. If you select a tooth-colored crown, your Elroy dentist will use a shade guide to determine the appropriate shade of the crown. Fabrication of the crown occurs at the dental lab over a few weeks.
In the meantime, we will place a temporary crown over this tooth for protection until your official one arrives at our office. Once we have your official crown, the old one will be removed and if the fit is perfect, then it will be secured in place with dental cement.
A CEREC or same-day crown is a dental crown that is designed, fabricated, and placed all in the same appointment using advanced CEREC technology.
After preparing your tooth by filing it to the desired shape, CAD/CAM technology is used to scan your teeth and produce a highly realistic 3D model of your teeth in our software. Using that 3D model, a highly precise replica of your tooth is milled out of a block of ceramic and color-matched to your natural tooth.
Then, we will cement the CEREC crown to your tooth. This is all done in the same appointment without the need for temporary crowns, additional appointments, waiting periods between appointments, and outside dental labs.
Lab-made crowns can be created out of many different materials, including gold, porcelain, ceramic, zirconia, porcelain-fused-to-metal, and lithium disilicate. However, CEREC crowns can only be made out of ceramic.
This makes lab-made crowns more suitable for severely damaged, decayed, or weakened teeth, especially in the rear molars, because we can design crowns that are made of the most durable and long-lasting materials.
While lab-made crowns are more versatile, sturdy, and durable, they take much longer to produce, require multiple appointments, and have long waiting times. You’ll also need to wear temporary crowns as you wait and all of these things run up costs.
CEREC crowns are more convenient because they can be created and placed in a single appointment instead of being dragged out over multiple weeks and appointments.
This eliminates downtime and the need to commute to and from the dental office, and you don’t have to pay for all of these extra appointments, outside dental labs, and temporary crowns.
The advanced dental technology is also highly precise and leaves less room for human error. You will notice that CEREC crowns have more accurate shade-matching and are designed precisely with our software and 3D printer.
CEREC crowns are much more cost-effective, fast, and convenient while having comparable functionality and lifespan to lab-made crowns. If you’re wondering if you’re a good candidate for CEREC crowns, contact us at Wojtowicz Dental today to schedule a consultation with Dr. Emily.
Proudly serving dental patients in Mauston, Elroy, and
surrounding cities in Wisconsin!