Dental Crowns and Bridges

Are you happy with your reflection when you smile in the mirror? When you don’t like how you look, many aspects of your life can be impacted. This includes professional, social, and romantic interactions. As dental healthcare professionals, we think it’s important to feel confident about how your teeth look. Dental crowns and bridges can help you love your smile.

If you have a chipped or severely stained tooth, our Oro Valley dentist can restore and protect it with a dental crown. For patients who are missing one or more teeth, we may recommend dental bridges to fill in the space and bring back your ability to eat your favorite foods and speak clearly.

Dental crowns and bridges are dental prosthetics that replace missing or damaged teeth. At Smith Dentalworks, our cosmetic dentist is highly skilled in fabricating beautiful and natural-looking smile restorations. We only use the highest-quality materials in combination with up-to-date dental technology to provide reliable oral care.

Smile flaws and missing teeth don’t only happen to people who don’t take care of their oral health. Even patients who are diligent and proactive about their dental care may have a tooth that needs to be repaired or replaced. The good news is that Dr. Atty Smith and her dental team are highly skilled and prepared to provide you with dental restorations that are not only functional but also a beautiful addition to your smile.

What is a Dental Crown?

A dental crown fits over your damaged tooth like a helmet and restores its entire structure with customized ceramic porcelain. Your tooth crown is designed to match your natural tooth closely, so it will provide all the functions of chewing and eating you enjoyed before. We also shade it to match your surrounding teeth so it will blend seamlessly. This type of restoration can also top a dental implant to replace a single missing tooth.

A tooth that is fractured or decayed may need a dental crown to restore it to a healthy state. Being proactive about getting one is necessary for your oral health. If you delay this treatment, decay can progress into the nerve of your tooth, resulting in an infection. This can make root canal therapy necessary to preserve your tooth and alleviate your pain. This adds on extra expenses that could have been prevented.

What is a Dental Bridge?

A dental bridge consists of two crowns anchored to healthy adjacent teeth with a prosthetic tooth suspended between them in the open space. We make bridges out of ceramic porcelain and they are capable of replacing multiple adjacent missing teeth to restore function and aesthetics.

If your tooth is fractured or already missing, a dental bridge can be an ideal solution for replacing it. If you are missing a tooth, you may immediately notice how different it feels to talk and enunciate clearly. A gap in your smile can also make it challenging to eat chewy or hard foods. You may even find yourself chewing and biting down on the opposite side, which can add stress to your other teeth.

We always recommend replacing your tooth as soon as you can to avoid damage to neighboring teeth, misaligning your bite, and prevent your teeth from shifting. A dental bridge is simply two dental crowns that we place over nearby teeth that hold a restoration tooth in place to fill the gap. Like dental crowns, bridges are completed over the course of two dental visits.

Dental bridges can help with many different oral health issues, including:

Reduces pressure during eating
Stops teeth from shifting
Prevents roots from being exposed
Helps protect against tooth decay and gingivitis
Enhances your appearance
Restores your biting and chewing ability

What to Expect During Your Dental Crown Procedure

We typically complete tooth crowns in two dental visits. During your first appointment with Dr. Smith, we make an impression of your smile to send to the lab and prepare for the second stage of the process. We can match the shade of the dental crown to the rest of your teeth so that it doesn’t stand out. While we wait for your permanent crown to be made, we will fit you with a temporary crown to protect and stabilize your tooth.

After we have completed the crown, you will come to Smith Dentalworks for your second appointment. If there are any cracks, fractures, or cavities, we will fill in the gaps so that no bacteria or particles can enter and introduce tooth decay and infection. Once Dr. Smith has fitted the dental crown over your tooth, we will make any necessary adjustments to ensure that your bite is aligned and that the fit is perfect.

We strive to make the entire process as comfortable as possible. Some patients may have dental anxiety before a procedure. Please let us know if you are experiencing any concerns prior to treatment. We want you to be stress-free and we are happy to do whatever we can to help. In many cases we can provide sedation. We also use the Solea®️ Laser to make your dental care pain-free.

How to Care for Your Dental Crown or Bridge

If you have gotten a dental crown or bridge, you are probably very interested in maintaining your new dental prosthetic for as long as possible. Fortunately, you will find maintenance to be comfortable and convenient.

We create dental crowns out of a porcelain material that cannot get cavities, but the underlying tooth is still vulnerable. This means that it is essential to keep your mouth healthy. You simply need to keep a steady routine with brushing and flossing daily, just like with your existing teeth. It’s equally important to maintain regular dental check-ups so we can examine and keep track of your dental crown or bridge. We can prevent minor issues from developing into costly dental problems.

two wooden tooth brushes on the table for oral hygiene at oro valley dentist

Dental Crowns and Bridges

What is a Dental Crown?

What is a Dental Bridge?

What to Expect During Your Dental Crown Procedure

How to Care for Your Dental Crown or Bridge

Learn More About Dental Crowns and Bridges

Contact our Oro Valley dental office today for more information about dental crowns and bridges or to schedule a consultation with Dr. Smith.