Porcelain Crowns for Front Teeth

A crown is a dental restoration that covers your entire tooth. It used to be that any crown had to have some metal in it for strength. Today, we can make them out of all porcelain, meaning that they can look very esthetic and very natural.  Unfortunately, most dental schools emphasize the use of porcelain fused to metal crowns, and that's the only crown many dentists know how to do for front teeth. But porcelain fused to metal crowns for front teeth look opaque, unnatural, and tend to develop a dark line at the gumline after a few years. Notice the photograph on the right of an all porcelain crown on a front tooth. Can you tell which tooth has the crown? Notice that there is no dark line at the gumline, as you will see with porcelain fused to metal crowns.

DENTAL CROWN CHOICES FOR FRONT TEETH

A dental crown on a front tooth is needed when either a good portion of the tooth is gone or a good portion of the biting edge is gone - there are large old fillings, a tooth fracture, or a large portion of decay. A filling is used to fill a small portion of the tooth - a crown when the tooth has extensive damage. And there are three basic categories of crowns for front teeth: bonded all porcelain, extra strength all porcelain, or porcelain fused to metal.

• BONDED ALL PORCELAIN - This is the type of crown that a true cosmetic dentist will almost always place on a front tooth. It is made entirely of porcelain or other ceramic material. Now the type of porcelain used for crowns for teeth by itself is not very strong. The way a cosmetic dentist will handle this is he or she will bond the crown to the tooth, thus giving it plenty of strength to function. However, since dental schools do not normally train dentists in the bonding techniques required to place these crowns, you should be careful to only have them done by expert cosmetic dentists. For information on locating an expert cosmetic dentist in your area, please see our referral page.
  This type of crown has the nicest appearance. It mimics the appearance of nature to the point where it is difficult to tell that it is not a natural tooth. An all porcelain crown costs more than a porcelain fused to metal crown. And while an all porcelain crown is strong enough for front teeth, it may not be strong enough for some back teeth in some patients with an extra strong bite.
• EXTRA STRENGTH ALL PORCELAIN - There are some new ceramic materials that have extra strength - so much so that they don't have to be bonded. Some general dentists like to place these crowns on front teeth because they don't require specialized training to place, and they don't have the esthetic disadvantages of metal. However, they aren't as esthetic as the bonded all porcelain crowns. Some brand names of crowns that are this type are Procera crowns, InCeram crowns, Cercon Zirconia crowns, Lava crowns, and Cerec crowns. While they don't have an opaque metal core, most of them have an opaque white core, so they aren't as esthetic for front teeth. They don't tend to develop the dark black line at the gumline that porcelain fused to metal crowns do, but they can still reveal a sharp color difference where the crown meets the tooth. They also tend to be a little more abrasive on the opposing teeth that chew against them.
• PORCELAIN FUSED TO METAL - Porcelain fused to metal crowns, for general dentists who aren't passionate about appearance, look "good enough." But even many lay people can tell when friends have this type of crown on front teeth. They tend to have a very fake-looking opacity, and they will tend to get a black line at the gumline after a few years. This line may not show when the crown is first placed but shows later, as the gum recedes. But porcelain fused to metal is substantially stronger than the all porcelain crown. The biggest advantage for general dentists is that this crown is much easier to place. A competent general dentist with only the training received in dental school can correctly place one of these crowns.

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