Lombard Dental Crowns and Bridges
Lombard Dental Crowns and Bridges
Stronger Teeth With Dental Restorations
Dental crowns, or “caps” are tooth-like coverings that fully encapsulate the tooth to strengthen, restore, or improve the appearance of your existing tooth and make it easier to eat, speak, and smile confidently again. Used for a wide variety of purposes, dental crowns are often used to support teeth where the structure of the tooth is not sufficient to support a filling, where the tooth cracked or broken, or when a bridge is required.
Dental Crowns Are Changing the Lives of Many of Our Patients
A dental bridge is often used when one or more teeth are missing. It can effectively replace a missing tooth or teeth by securing the new tooth in place with the use of crowns secured to neighboring teeth to “bridge” the new tooth into place. Once placed, dental bridges can last anywhere from 5 to 15 years and longer with a good regular dental hygiene routine and six month visits to your dentist. At Brett Blacher DDS, we don’t believe your smile should hide from a missing tooth or that eating your favorite foods should feel like a challenge. When you come to us at your next appointment in Lombard, we’ll help you rejuvenate your smile and feel confident again.
Take Care of Your Dental Crowns!
Good dental hygiene makes a smile last.
Dental crowns can be as strong or stronger than regular teeth, but we recommend regular brushing and flossing twice daily to keep them in their best shape for many years! To find out more about your dental health and common dental related questions, visit our patient resources!
Don’t Wait on Missing Teeth
Losing a permanent tooth can cause serious problems for your remaining teeth, who may shift and rotate to fill the empty space. When this happens, uneven pressure is put on your bite, your face shape may change, and even your chance for gum disease and future tooth loss accelerates. If you have a question about how tooth loss may be affecting your dental condition and current health, contact our Lombard dental staff at 630-916-0701 for a consultation.
After Your Crown or Bridge Procedure
When most adults over the age of 35 have lost at least one adult tooth in their lives, crowns and bridges have become a simple way for patients to discretely restore their smiles without needing a more complicated procedure such as dental implants or having to look into getting dentures. If you’re thinking about the benefits involved in restoring your smile back to its natural healthy radiance, consider the benefits of dental crowns and bridges:
- Restores and maintains your natural bite and smile
- Prevents existing teeth from shifting into empty spaces
- Corrects unnatural stress placement on other teeth
- Prevents shifting and rotating of adjacent teeth
- Reduces increased risk of gum disease from missing teeth
- Chewing, speaking, and smiling may feel normal and healthy again
If you want to finally take the first step towards getting your smile back, make an appointment with us at 630-916-0701.
Does It Hurt to Get a Dental Crown?
No. The crown process does not involve any major oral surgery, only the removal of some of your enamel and trimming the tooth to accommodate your crown. This procedure is done under local anesthesia to ensure you don’t feel any discomfort.
We also offer a variety of relaxing sedation options at the office of Brett Blacher, DDS. Plus, we use advanced tools like air abrasion instead of traditional dental drills to enhance your comfort. You can rest assured that the process of getting a crown at our office won’t hurt at all.
However, you may experience a bit of sensitivity and tenderness after your tooth is trimmed. As you get used to your temporary crown, this will begin to fade. After you get your permanent porcelain crown, you won’t feel any discomfort at all.
How Long Will My Crown Last?
That mostly depends on how well you care for your new crown. Most modern, lab-made porcelain crowns are expected to last between 10-20 years, but it’s definitely not unheard of for a crown to last even longer than this.
If you want your crown to last as long as possible, we recommend that you focus on maintaining good at-home oral hygiene habits and a healthy lifestyle. You should brush twice a day for two minutes and floss once each day, and treat your crown just like a natural tooth. This helps prevent further decay, which could lead to premature crown failure.
In addition, you should try to maintain a “tooth-healthy” diet and avoid sugary drinks and foods. This can reduce your risk of tooth decay. Other steps you can take to prolong your crown’s lifespan include reducing the amount of alcohol you drink and ceasing the use of tobacco products.
It’s also important to visit Dr. Brett Blacher every six months for a teeth cleaning and oral exam. During this time, he can check on your crowns and your natural teeth to make sure that they’re in great shape.
What Is the Alternative to a Dental Crown?
This depends on why you’re getting a dental crown. If you need a dental crown to repair a damaged tooth or a severely-decayed tooth, there’s no real alternative. Crowns are almost always the best choice for repairing damaged teeth, since they completely cover up and replace the remaining enamel and last for such a long time.
The only other alternative would be to extract your tooth and replace it, and Dr. Blacher will never suggest this unless it’s the only option. We practice conservative dentistry at our office, meaning that we will always look for the least invasive and most cost-effective way to resolve your dental health issue. Extracting the tooth is always a last resort.
If you are thinking of getting a cosmetic dental crown, however, you may have other options. Porcelain veneers are very similar to crowns, except they are much thinner, and only cover up the front of your tooth. This means that they provide similar cosmetic results, but require the removal of a lot less tooth material. Dr. Blacher will usually recommend veneers over crowns unless your tooth cannot be treated with a veneer for some reason.
Similarly, dental bonding may be a good alternative to a crown. Bonding uses a special type of tooth-colored resin to reshape your tooth and cover up a wide variety of cosmetic imperfections, and it’s very fast, affordable, and convenient.
For more information about each of your options, we recommend contacting the office of Dr. Brett Blacher for a consultation in Lombard right away. Dr. Blacher is always happy to help you find the right treatment for your situation.
“We provide the most conservative treatments possible to fix your dental problem and provide the best long term solution for your dental health and smile.”
At Brett Blacher DDS, dentistry isn’t just about repairing teeth--it’s about improving the long term health of every patient through care that is personal to each client. We talk to each patient as a person first, understanding their specific needs and helping them achieve a level of health they never thought was possible before, so they can enjoy their smiles for years to come with a dentist they can trust.
Dr. Brett Blacher
