Enhancing your smile with dental crowns in Knoxville

Many people believe that cosmetic dentistry is only about the way your teeth look. While the result is a beautiful smile, cosmetic dentistry solutions can also play the important role of restoring functionality within your mouth. We all know that damaged or missing teeth can affect your appearance, but did you know that it also puts the health of your mouth at risk? At Sequoyah Dental Arts in Knoxville, we offer dental crowns as a way to restore strength, beauty, and form to your teeth.

Dental crowns are caps that are placed over existing teeth. They are great for teeth that cannot be repaired using a filling. Other reasons that you may require a crown include:

• As the anchor to a dental bridge. Bridges are restorations used for missing teeth and are composed of crowns placed on both sides of the missing tooth to help hold the false tooth in place.
• On top of a dental implant. Dental implants are artificially implanted tooth roots that are a stable and permanent way to restore missing teeth. The implant is often capped with a crown or denture to complete the restoration.
• After a root canal. Teeth that have undergone root canal therapy are more susceptible to breaking and cracking. Crowns can protect these teeth from breaking when they are too brittle to be strong.
• Cosmetic enhancement. Crowns may be used for a tooth that is severely discolored and not responding to teeth whitening. They may also be used in place of porcelain veneers over a tooth that is cracked, chipped or misshapen.

The dental crown process begins with an impression of the tooth receiving the crown. The impression is then sent to a lab for fabrication of your permanent restoration. A temporary crown is placed in the interim. Crowns are made of porcelain, which is a material similar to tooth enamel. Porcelain crowns can be color matched to your existing teeth for a natural, seamless look.

With proper care, crowns can last well over a decade. Daily oral hygiene along with avoiding clenching or grinding the teeth will help ensure they last for a long time.

If you have damaged teeth and think you may benefit from a crown, call us today to schedule an appointment.