Natural Smiles • Oct 26, 2017
Joe has a dental filling that needs to be replaced, and another filling may not be enough this time.
His son chipped a tooth biting into a “jawbreaker,” and his neighbor knocked out one of his teeth when he fell while trying to clean out his gutters.
Dental crowns could help with all of these problems. And if you live in or near Louisville, KY, you can get them at Natural Smiles.
Dental crowns are an important part of our restorative dentistry. We have used them to help more patients than we can count, and we can use them to help Joe, his son, and his neighbor, too. We will explain how a little later.
If you think you could benefit from a dental crown, call (502) 414-0146 or contact us online to request an appointment soon.
Fixing Joe’s Old Filling
Before we go any further, we need to point out that Joe and the other patients in this post are not real people, although they are all dealing with real problems that we have treated in our office multiple times.
Like 90 percent of American adults, Joe has had cavities. When he first developed tooth decay, he got a dental filling. When that one wore out, he got another filling. This process has been repeated multiple times over the years.
The problem is that every time his filling wears out, the dentist has to remove a little more of his tooth. Over time, this has weakened the tooth to a point at which another filling may not work.
Instead, Joe can get a long-term solution with a dental crown. By reshaping his tooth into an abutment, it can support one of our porcelain crowns. The crown will be shaded to match the color of the rest of his smile, and it will allow him to keep eating all the foods that he loves.
Rebuilding Joe Jr.’s Smile
In our example, Joe’s son has bitten into a piece of hard candy. In this case, the candy won, and Joe Jr. lost part of his tooth.
We’ve seen similar things happen from people biting into kernels of popcorn, olive pits, and many other hard foods. They can make it difficult to bite or chew with the damaged tooth. Breaks and cracks also affect the appearance of someone’s smile (as well as his or her self-confidence).
Fortunately, the fix for this situation is often the same as what we described above. By reshaping the tooth, we create a support to bond a dental crown in place.
Now, this also depends on how deep that break or crack is. If either is too deep, it could allow bacteria to get inside the tooth leading to an infection. This can be painful in a variety of ways.
In these situations, a root canal may be necessary to remove the infected parts from inside the tooth. After the tooth is filled, we can use a crown to seal the tooth and protect it against further problems.
Filling The Space In Joe’s Neighbor’s Smile
We’ve all had accidents doing work at home. Joe’s neighbor had a pretty bad one in our example above.
Having a tooth knocked out is a serious situation. If this happens to you, we hope you will make an appointment with us as soon as you are able.
There was a time when Joe’s neighbor would have had to get a partial denture or a dental bridge to fill the hole in his smile. Thanks to the development of modern dental implants, however, we can give him a complete tooth replacement without doing anything to his other teeth.
After Joe’s neighbor’s implant is placed in his jaw, we will be able to attach a dental crown to the abutment. This way he can have something that looks, feels, and functions just like a real tooth.
What Can A Dental Crown Do For You?
We’ve touched on some of the ways a dental crown could be good for your smile. Crowns also can have cosmetic benefits if you have a discolored, short, or misshapen tooth.
To find out if a crown or another of our services is right for you, schedule a consultation with Dr. Gill at Natural Smiles. Call our Louisville, KY office at (502) 414-0146 or fill out our online form today!