Crown & Bridge

Crowns

Filling materials such as composite or amalgam are likely to have a shorter life span than cast restorations such as crowns. Crowns are artificial covers (sometimes called “caps”) that replace the entire visible surface of a tooth above the gum line. Fabricated of metal, porcelain fused to metal, or all-ceramic (porcelain), crowns are cemented to a prepared tooth with intact roots. They are often needed after a root canal procedure, or to repair fractured, broken or misshapen teeth. Cast crowns have the advantage that they are cemented and fixed to the teeth as best can, and they protect the remaining tooth structure. They enjoy good success rates of over 95% after 10 years.

Bridges (aka Bridgework)

Bridges use the existing, healthy teeth (called abutment teeth) on either side of a gap to support one or more artificial teeth. Since the adjacent teeth would otherwise require crowning, preparation for a bridge provides a satisfactory solution to managing these spaces. A series of linked crowns is fabricated as a single unit, which is then attached to the prepared abutment teeth.  Bridges are a time-tested tooth-replacement method, but require special attention to cleaning, and potentially compromise the structure of the otherwise healthy abutment teeth. Short-span bridges enjoy reasonable success rates of over 90% after 10 years, almost as good as the success rates for single crowns.

Please note that the condition of teeth requiring replacement of crown and bridgework is difficult to determine until the old restorations are removed allowing the core structures to be assessed. Consequently, the prognosis for many of your teeth, is difficult to predict until treatment has commenced, and the existing cast restorations have been removed.

Materials used for Crown & Bridgework

Both porcelain-fused-to-metal, and all-ceramic restorations, offer the possibility of a white ‘tooth coloured’ result, however generally speaking the option of metal-free all-ceramic offers the very best aesthetic solution possible. Both options of material choice perform well on anterior teeth.  All-ceramic solutions are slightly more vulnerable to failures due to fracture or damage under unfavourable loading conditions. On the other hand, porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns give the best of both worlds; deriving strength from metal, and the beauty of porcelain, but this comes at the expense of slightly reduced overall aesthetics. It is still possible for porcelain which is supported by metal to fail under very unfavourable loading conditions by fracturing or other damage.