Crowns and bridges can complete your smile and restore your oral health. These restorations can also strengthen your tooth, conceal smile flaws and correct your bite so you can enjoy your favourite foods again and speak with clarity.
Mount Waverley Smiles provides crowns and bridges to patients in and around the Mount Waverley, VIC area. If you have damaged or missing teeth, our dentists would love to discuss your treatment options.
What Is a Dental Crown?
A dental crown, also called a ‘tooth crown’ or ‘cap’, is a tooth-shaped covering that shields and protects a natural tooth. It also restores a tooth’s strength and structure and can prevent the need to remove the underlying tooth if it’s deeply decayed or damaged. We also use crowns to restore teeth that have undergone root canal therapy. When you receive a root canal treatment, the tooth is weaker than before, so the crown helps reinforce the natural tooth’s shape and strength.
Our dentist at Mount Waverley Smiles customises dental crowns to meet your specific needs and fit the shape, colour and fit of your natural teeth. Dental crowns can be made from ceramic, composite and metals like gold and stainless steel. Depending on your needs, the dentist will help you choose the best material for your dental crown or crowns.
What Is a Dental Bridge?
A dental bridge replaces one or more missing adjacent teeth. A dental bridge uses clips or crowns to secure it in place. The crowns are placed on teeth next to the gap where you have lost the tooth or teeth. With a dental bridge, you can restore your smile’s appearance and lower your risk for additional tooth loss, tooth mobility, gum disease and other problems.
What’s the Process of Getting a Crown and Bridge?
1. Oral Health Evaluation and X-Rays
Dr Austin Rhee and Dr William Huynh will examine your teeth and gums to determine whether crowns and bridges are a good option for your smile. Our dental office in Mount Waverley uses modern technology to streamline treatment, enhance patient comfort and produce optimal results.
Some technologies we use include digital x-rays, panoramic x-rays and intraoral cameras. Using these tools, we can create a precise and personalised treatment plan for you. The diagnostics also help us determine if there are any underlying concerns that can interfere with treatment, like a root canal infection.
Before your treatment, we will discuss all of your options and any pre-treatments if they’re necessary. Once you make the final decision to move forward with treatment, we can start the journey toward your new smile.
2. Preparing for a Dental Crown
The dentist must prepare and reshape the tooth that will receive the dental crown. We understand some patients might be nervous about getting dental work, which is why we do everything we can to make you feel comfortable and at ease. We even have TVs in our treatment rooms so you can enjoy your favourite programmes during your appointment. The dentist also uses a local anaesthetic to numb the area of the mouth where we will be working.
Reshaping the tooth ensures the crown will fit precisely over the tooth itself and your overall bite. Next, we take an impression of the tooth to design a dental crown. We send the impression to our dental lab partners, where a team of specialists create the crown, which can take a couple of weeks. In the meantime, we will provide you with a temporary crown so you can eat and talk with ease.
3. Placing a Dental Crown and Dental Bridge
When the final crown is ready and back from the lab, we ensure it’s the proper shape, size, fit and colour. Then, we use dental cement to secure the crown and ensure its stability. We will finish off by polishing the tooth to match your surrounding teeth. If you only need dental crowns, then your treatment is complete!
If you are getting a dental bridge, we secure the crowns to the teeth next to the gap (also called ‘abutment teeth’). These crowns connect to a single prosthetic tooth or a couple of prosthetic teeth to fill in the gap and restore your bite.
How to Care for Your Restored Smile
To maintain your oral health and the condition of your restorations, we recommend the following:
- Brush your teeth at least twice daily.
- Floss between your teeth at least once daily.
- Eat healthy, smile-healthy foods.
- Avoid chewing on or eating hard, crunchy or sharp foods and objects. (e.g., ice, ink pens)
- Visit your dentist for routine dental exams and cleans.
Crowns and Bridges in Mount Waverley, VIC
Do you have damaged or missing teeth? We invite you to contact our dental clinic today to learn more about your options. We offer customised tooth crowns and dental bridges to give you the smile you have always wanted.
We look forward to helping at our Mount Waverley dental clinic!
