Crowns, Bridges and Cerec Crowns

A combination of crowns and bridges can be used to effectively reconstruct your smile giving you full function and improving the shape and colour of your teeth. As discussed in the restorative section of this website, a crown is used to restore a tooth and a bridge is used to replace a missing tooth.

In most areas of the mouth where aesthetics are important, crowns and bridges can be made of entirely Porcelain, Zirconia or Porcelain fused to metal. Where metal free Ziconia or Emax porcelain bridges can be constructed we can ensure there are no dark lines around the gum margins. Porcelain is strong and can be made to match the colour of your natural teeth. You no longer need to accept dark margins and grey gums around crowns!!!

Before

After

On your first visit, we will either digitally scan your teeth or take an impression to make a permanent record of your appearance and how you teeth fit together when your jaws are closed (known as occlusion). To make an accurate reproduction of your upper and lower teeth, a jaw shaped tray is filled with a soft gel-like material, pushed onto your teeth and held in place to set for three to five minutes.

Crowns

Performed using a local anaesthetic, the tooth is shaped using a drill, reducing it by 1-2 millimetres. After shaping, another more accurate impression is taken to record changes to the prepared tooth. Often times we can digitally scan the preparation, the dentist then designs the crown on our CEREC software and mills the crown immediately in house, cementing the final crown at the same appointment.

For specialised cases we will send the digital scan or the conventional impression to a dental technician that will make the crown according to dentist’s specifications.

The results of Complete Dental Care crown lengthening and replacement treatment is shown in the photograph below.

Bridges

The teeth on either side of the gap are shaped by drilling. These teeth are fitted with crowns that serve as anchors for the replacement tooth that is attached to the framework of the adjacent crowns.

Treatment Time

Depending on the type of work one or two visits will be required for preparation and fitting of a crown or bridge.

Smile design is carried out, working collaboratively with our patients, utilising Digital Smile Design iPad based technology so they can see how their new smile will look before committing to treatment.

How it works