CEREC Crowns and Bridges
It’s easy to take for granted how much you depend on your teeth to function properly. As soon as something goes wrong, however, all you can think about is how difficult it is to chew comfortably or smile with confidence.
At A Family Dentist, we understand the impact that a damaged tooth has on your life, so we offer high-quality dental restorations like CEREC crowns and bridges using state-of-the-art materials. Our crowns not only restore a tooth, so it functions comfortably again, but their natural appearance also blends seamlessly with the rest of your smile.
The Purpose of a Dental Crown
A crown is designed like a little helmet to fit over a compromised tooth to protect it from further damage and restore function and appearance. There are several cases where Dr. Nguyen or Dr. Anthony might recommend a crown:
- Decay compromises the tooth to the extent that a filling won’t be enough to protect it
- A tooth already has a large filling, so a crown is needed to protect it
- After root canal treatment to protect and strengthen the tooth
- After dental implant placement to restore function and appearance
Why We Use CEREC Crowns
CEREC stands for Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics, which is a complicated way of saying that we design, fabricate, and place a finished crown here in our dental office during a single appointment.
Placing a traditional crown requires two or more appointments, multiple injections, uncomfortable impressions, and wearing a temporary crown. But using CEREC technology, we can eliminate these extra steps.
Instead of messy impression paste, we use digital impressions that allow us to design a 3-D model of your tooth and crown using specialized software. The information is sent to a milling machine in our office that fabricates your crown to our exact specifications.
While we are also happy to offer lab-fabricated crowns, many of our patients prefer the convenience of having the entire process completed in one visit.
Dental Bridges Complete Your Smile
A crown restores a damaged tooth, but when you lose a tooth, you need a different solution. Dental bridges are a type of restoration that has been used successfully for many decades and solves the problem of an apparent gap in your smile.
We typically design a bridge as a three-piece unit – an artificial tooth sits in the open space and crowns on either side are attached to adjacent healthy teeth for support. Replacing a missing tooth is important because neighboring teeth want to drift into the open space, causing misalignment issues that can result in problems with your dental bite.
If we find that the anchor teeth are not healthy enough to support a bridge, our doctors may recommend a partial denture or dental implant to replace the tooth and restore function.
Please Call Us to Arrange an Appointment
If you have dental damage and aren’t sure what to do next, please call A Family Dentist so we can help. Dr. Nguyen and Dr. Anthony will be happy to evaluate your needs, explain your options, and help guide you to choose the solution that fits all your needs.
