Baton Rouge’s Best Crown and Bridge Procedure

Dental crowns are a great option for restoring damaged teeth and are a standard procedure offered at Elements Dental Spa – Baton Rouge Dentist & Aesthetics Spa. Dental crowns are caps that restore the shape and size of teeth after they have become cracked, fractured or decayed, and offer protection from further damage.

What Is a Dental Crown?

Dental crowns are a versatile treatment that can protect a weak tooth from infection, restore a damaged tooth, cover a dental implant, hold a dental bridge in place and provide a great, natural appearance. Reminiscent of a cap, the restoration is placed on top of the damaged tooth with the dual purpose of protecting and restoring your tooth’s function and strength.

A crown covers the entire tooth, replacing its outer layer of enamel with new material. A crown is contoured and sized similarly to a natural tooth and comes into contact with the opposite tooth in a normal way, allowing for food to be chewed properly.

In general, a crown should feel like a regular tooth when it comes to function. Depending on the material chosen for the crown, it also can look like a perfectly natural tooth.

Our dentists, Dr. Cecilia Luong and Dr. Gina Nguyen, utilize modern technology to design your crown so it meets your individual needs.

Here at Elements Dental Spa and Aesthetics, we scan for digital impressions to create the crown and carefully place it with optimum precision.

With our innovative restoration, you can eat, laugh, and smile with full confidence and zero pain! 

Call us today at  (225)-398-8812 and check other varieties of dental services that we offer.

Why Do Teeth Need Dental Crowns?

A tooth needs a crown when it no longer is strong enough to withstand normal chewing function on its own. There are multiple reasons a tooth could require a crown to function properly:

Large Decay

If a tooth has a large cavity, which has destroyed its enamel and dentin (the core structure of teeth), it will be too weak to hold a filling and chew properly. 

Large Fillings

If a tooth already has a large filling that covers more than half of the tooth, the remaining tooth structure is too weak to withstand chewing forces for the rest of the tooth’s lifespan.

By covering it with a crown, the tooth is given a better long-term prognosis.

Cracks

Tooth cracks are a very complicated diagnosis and could be the subject of an entire article on their own. For a tooth crack with a limited extent (meaning it does not extend into the nerve inside the tooth or down the root underneath the gums), a crown is the only way to keep the crack from progressively getting worse.

Teeth are covered in a solid layer of enamel, which acts as a protective coating. If that layer of enamel is disrupted by a crack, it is no longer doing its job, and it must be removed and replaced. The crown functions as the new enamel, protectively covering the tooth just as the enamel did.

Root Canal Treatment

When a tooth has a root canal, the nerve and blood vessels are removed from the hollow chamber inside the tooth. This means there is no longer any nourishment to the tooth, and it quickly becomes dried out and brittle.

There also has been a significant reduction of natural tooth structure in order to reach into the canal space.

This predisposes the tooth to cracking. Any tooth that has had a root canal needs to be covered in a crown to prevent it from cracking. Root canals are expensive, and it would be a shame to let one go to waste because the tooth was never covered and cracked, requiring it to be extracted.

What Is a Dental Bridge?

A bridge is used to replace one or more missing teeth, when functioning teeth are available on both sides of the missing tooth.

In the case of one missing tooth, a bridge would be three units: one unit for each adjacent retainer tooth, and one for the pontic.

The adjacent teeth, called retainers, are covered by the bridge in exactly the same manner as a crown covers a single tooth. The difference is that the bridge connects the crowns to a pontic (fake tooth replacement) in the missing tooth space.

What are the Benefits of a Bridge?

A bridge is a quick way to replace 1-2 missing teeth. It does not require any surgery, and it is typically paid for by dental insurance as a covered benefit.

What are the Disadvantages of a Dental Bridge?

Because a bridge connects multiple teeth together, it cannot be cleaned as simply as separate teeth. It is necessary for you to use adjunctive oral hygiene tools to help you get floss underneath the bridge for adequate cleaning.

In short, it takes a little more work to maintain it, keeping it clean and cavity-free. In some cases, the adjacent teeth have no problems, so in order to make the bridge, healthy tooth structure must be removed.

What are Alternatives to a Dental Bridge?

A bridge’s purpose is to replace one or more missing teeth. There are two other general options for replacing teeth.

One is a removable partial denture, which as its name implies is taken in and out. It is not cemented to the teeth.

A removable partial denture rests on adjacent teeth and uses either a metal or plastic base to hold fake teeth in place.

The other tooth replacement option is a dental implant.

A dental implant is the most expensive tooth replacement treatment, but it gives the most natural result because it is anchored in the jawbone and does not depend on or affect the adjacent teeth.

Crown or Bridge Procedure

At Elements Dental Spa, we utilize modern, 3D scanner technology to take a digital impression to fabricate your custom-fitted crown or bridge. The process of a crown or bridge can be completed in just 2 appointments! 

• We prepare your tooth – Our dentists will remove the outer portion of your tooth for the crown or bridge to fit.
• Scan- had a crown before? You probably remember taking those pesky impressions, well no more! Our new technology allows us to get a more accurate record of the tooth we are crowning via our scanner. Say goodbye to impressions and hello to the future of restorative dentistry!
• Temporary crown – Usually, you have to wait 1-2 weeks for your permanent crown or bridge to return from our dental lab. While waiting, we will fabricate you with a temporary crown or bridge.
• Crown ready – When we have the crown or bridge delivered from the dental lab, we will call you back in for your second visit to fit the permanent restoration and make all the needed adjustments. Once you are satisfied with how it feels and looks, we will cement the crown or bridge in place.

Need a Crown or Bridge but Interested in Whitening?

Whatever color we decide to make your crown will be that color for the lifetime of the crown. We are specially trained in getting a great shade for your crown to match the rest of your teeth. We will always recommend getting teeth whitening before doing any crowns to achieve the whitest you can get before we pick a shade.

Contact Elements Dental Spa – Baton Rouge Dentist & Aesthetics Spa today and get the beautiful smile you’ve always wanted!