Ugly Old Crowns
An ugly old crown can certainly ruin a person’s smile. For a cosmetic dentist, his ultimate goal is to achieve a dental crown which merges well with the rest of the natural teeth. Factors affecting the aesthetic outcome of the dental crowns:
1) Type of dental materials used to construct the crown
2) The colour of the existing tooth structure
3) The skill of the dentist
4) The skill of the dental technician
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Why is there a black line around my crown ?
The dark line around the gum line of a crown is the most common complaint among patients with dental crowns.
This is because old fashion crowns are made of porcelain that was heat fused to a substructure of metal. The black line around the gum area is due to the metal substructure of the crown. Moreover, the metal under the crown does not allow light to pass through unlike a natural tooth. As a result, the porcelain fused to metal crown margin looks darker as the gum and root area of the tooth do not receive enough light due to the metal framework . This is in contrast to a natural tooth, whereby the light pass through the teeth ,down to the root and into the gums.
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Why is my crown looking lifeless or opaque.?
This problem is usually associated with porcelain fused to metal crowns .This is because the metal substructure of the crown blocks the light from entering the entering the tooth. As a result the crown will look opaque unlike natural tooth tends to look more translucent.
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How can I have new crowns without black lines ?
With the introduction of
all ceramic crowns or all porcelain crowns, the black metal line around the crown margins
Is a thing of the past. This is because call ceramic crowns are constructed without the metal framework. Moreover, with no metal framework , the all porcelain crown allows light to pass through naturally, thus mimicking the translucent prismatic look of a natural tooth.
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How can I get translucent and natural looking crown?
Some teeth are thin and more transparent and such cases presents a special challenge for the cosmetic dentist to create natural looking crowns.
3 factors to consider
1)Materials –All ceramic crowns allows light to pass through unlike porcelain fused to metal crown. As a result all ceramic crowns resembles natural teeth in terms of translucency and prismatic effect.
2) Skills of the cosmetic dentist.
Precise tooth preparations by the cosmetic dentist is important. This will allow a sufficient thickness of ceramic for color, translucency and strength .
3) Skills of the dental technician.
A highly skilled ceramist is able to build porcelain in layers so as to mimic the 3 dimensional color and translucency of a natural tooth.
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Crowns for Root canal treated teeth.
Crowning for root canal treated teeth poses some special problems for the cosmetic dentist. The problems are
1) Dark discolored root and tooth stumps
The above picture shows dark root discolouration as a result of a tooth being non vital. In order for an aesthetic crown to be done, an appropriate type of crown should be chosen to mask the dark root.
2) Lack of tooth structure:
In order to restore root canal treated teeth with crowns, post core build up must be done to strengthen the teeth.
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Types of post cores for root canal treated teeth
1)Metal post core
The above patient had old metal posts that could not be removed. This presented the cosmetic dentist with an aesthetic problem, as a more opaque crown material had to be used to mask the metal post.
2) Tooth colored post core build up
With recent improvement in materials, tooth colored post core build up is now possible to strengthen a root canal treated tooth before crowning. This is the latest post core technique. The translucent fibre post is bonded to the root, thus strengthening it and reducing the possibility of root-splitting. It also enhances the aesthetics of the final crown as a more translucent crown material can be used.
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