Crowns & Bridges

Dental Crowns

A dental crown helps to protect and reinforce the remaining natural tooth structure after it has been compromised by decay or trauma. Your dentist will design a crown for your individual oral health needs and work with our dental laboratory to make the crown.

The different types of dental crowns include all-porcelain, zirconia (a durable ‘white’ precious metal) and a combination of porcelain-metal. Today's dental materials are beautifully natural looking; your dental crown can be designed in any combination of shades to complement your smile.

Dental Crown vs. a Dental Filling

Dental fillings are recommended to help stop the tooth decay process and repair the damaged area in the tooth surface. Our dentists provide tooth-colored dental composite fillings to match your smile. A dental composite filling is generally a good option for a small cavity that occurs in the chewing surface of the tooth. These often occur in the teenage years; dental sealants can be a preventive measure for your child to help avoid tooth decay and the need for a filling.

Dental crowns provide more protection for a tooth than a filling; crowns are generally the preferred restoration when tooth decay damages a corner of the tooth (a tooth ‘cusp’), extends between the teeth, or if the damage to the tooth covers a large area. Dental crown materials like ceramics and zirconia closely resemble hard tooth structure, so they help restore strength to the tooth. A large composite dental filling is not as strong and does not provide the same level of protection as a dental crown.

Dental Bridges

A dental bridge is sometimes recommended to restore a missing tooth. The bridge is designed to rest on adjacent teeth on either side of the replacement tooth. Similar to a dental crown, a bridge may be made of all-porcelain ceramics, dental zirconia, or a combination of porcelain and metal. Our dentists design and make your dental bridge in conjunction with our dental laboratory.

A dental bridge is also called a ‘fixed partial denture’; it is cemented in place (unlike a ‘removable’ partial denture). A dental bridge can also be used to replace multiple missing teeth.

A dental bridge preparation procedure takes about 2 hours initially, and you leave our office with a temporary bridge while the dental laboratory produces your final bridge. After about 2 weeks, you will return to our office for a brief appointment to have the final bridge restoration seated.

Dental Bridge vs. Dental Implant

A dental implant is a small titanium screw that is inserted into the jaw bone to act as a dental root for the replacement of a missing tooth. Our dentists place and restore dental implants in our Dalton dental office.

Dental implants are often recommended for replacement of a single missing tooth vs. a dental bridge. With a dental bridge, natural tooth structure is removed from the adjacent teeth to prepare the rests for the bridge (abutment teeth). A single dental implant stands alone and does not require support from adjacent teeth.

There are cases, however, that a bridge may be the preferred option, for esthetic reasons or due to limited tissue or bone support for an implant. Our dentists will guide you through tooth replacement recommendations during a complete dental examination and review of current dental x-rays.

Digital Dental Impressions

If Dr. Patterson or Dr. Hughes recommends a dental crown or dental bridge to restore your smile, we will start the process with a digital scan of your teeth. Using a camera about the size of an electric toothbrush, our digital dental scanning system allows us to take ‘impressions’ of your teeth without all the messy impression material. After the area is prepared for the restoration, we will take a second scan to send electronically to our dental laboratory to produce your final restoration. Learn more about Digital Dentistry at our Dalton dental practice.