Dental Crowns Vs. Dental Filling: Which is Better?
Restorative dentistry focuses on dental techniques to restore the functionality of natural teeth. With the advancement in dentistry, dentists can always opt for surgeries to remove decayed or impacted teeth and replace them with dental prostheses and dental implants. Natural teeth gas their aesthetic value, and specific dental processes can restore worn-out or chipped teeth. Teeth help to chew the food and to speak distinctly.
Understanding Dental Crowns and Dental Fillings
For a non-specialist, both dental crowns and dental fillings might seem a way to restore or strengthen worn-out teeth. There is a substantial difference between a crown or a dental filling, but both these restorative methods of dentistry focus on treating cavities. Dentists in Wall Township perform a comprehensive oral examination to assess the condition of impacted teeth and decides on administering dental crowns or fillings.
Dental Crowns
A dental crown is a prosthetic tooth made from ceramics or porcelain fitted directly on an existing natural tooth. Crown finds application when the existing teeth are badly impacted or decayed due to cavities. Crowns are also known as a tooth cap and act as a protective covering of the damaged teeth and prevent further damage.
Crowns can be combined with dental bridges and can conceal gaps between teeth. Crowns can protect a weak or chipped tooth and can support larger dental fillings. Modern dentists use a combination of crowns and dental bridges, which gives more stability than dental implants. Crowns are affordable, easy to clean, and lasts for long periods. You can chew and talk distinctly with dental crowns.
Dental Fillings
Crowns act as protective caps on impacted teeth and protect them from further decay. Dental fillings are essential to fill gaps caused mainly by cavities. The affected tooth is drilled to remove the debris and cleaned thoroughly to fill them with dental fillings. Depending on the budget and choice of the patient, the dentist might use gold, silver, amalgam, composite resin, or porcelain to fill the teeth. Dental fillings can be completed in a single visit to the dentist and are the most common and straightforward process to treat cavities.
Factors Determining the Choice of Filling or Crown
Although the dentist takes the call to administer dental crowns or fillings, certain factors guide the dentist’s decision.
The Teeth Condition
Dental crowns are the first choice for a tooth that has undergone multiple dental fillings. Several fillings make the tooth weak, and the crown provides the much-needed support. A tooth with numerous or large fillings is more prone to infection of the roots called pulpits. Crowns protect the teeth from this bacterial infection.
Root Canal
When a tooth is impacted or infected, the tooth loses its core and becomes weak and hollow. A root canal is the only treatment to treat such teeth, and crowns fit with the root canal. The crowns are placed on the titanium posts that serve the function of natural teeth.
Cavity Size
The size of the dental cavity is a decisive factor in deciding to go with crowns or fillings. An untreated decay deepens, and the size of the cavity increases. Such significant cavities can be treated with dental crowns, and a small decay can be filled with dental crowns.
Chipped or Broken Tooth
A crown resembles natural teeth and can be an excellent means to repair a chipped or broken tooth. The crown acts as a protective cap and strengthens the cracked tooth. Dental fillings do not find application in treating a broken or chipped tooth.
Final Note
When you visit Susan J. Curley DDS, the dentists with over 25 years of experience perform a comprehensive oral examination and decide whether dental crowns or fillings would be the best option to treat your impacted teeth. Apart from crowns and fillings, we offer cosmetic dentistry and implantology. You may book an appointment, and we accept all major insurances.
Going by the condition of your teeth, dental crown or fillings can be appropriate, and one cannot declare crowns or fillings better than the other. But crowns have a slight edge as they protect the weak teeth and can support larger dental fillings. Crowns can also be used in combination with brides and dental implants, but a dental filling finds application only in filling small cavities.