A dental crown is a tooth-shaped “cap” that fits over a cracked, chipped, or decaying tooth. Crowns look and feel like your natural tooth enamel and also prevent further damage from taking place.

Your Kirkland Premier Dentistry provider may recommend a dental crown if:

• You have discolored teeth
• One or more of your teeth are weak or in danger of breaking
• You’ve had a root canal procedure

A dental crown also provides the final step in the dental implant installation process. Dental implants are titanium tooth roots and dental crowns act as your new set of teeth.

Installing a dental crown requires two separate appointments. At your first appointment, your provider performs a thorough evaluation of the affected tooth and prepares it for the crown by filing down a bit of your natural tooth’s enamel.

Next, impressions of your tooth are taken and sent to a lab where your permanent crown is created. Finally, your provider places a temporary crown on the tooth and schedules a follow-up appointment for a week or two later.

At your second appointment, your Kirkland Premier Dentistry provider injects a local anesthetic into your gums and removes the temporary crown. Then, they apply a permanent, dental adhesive to your tooth and bond the permanent crown to it.

After the crown installation, you may experience a little swelling, soreness, and general discomfort. This is perfectly normal and should subside within a day or two. Maintaining your crown is easy, just brush and floss like you would your permanent teeth.

A dental bridge is a type of appliance that literally “bridges” that gap between one or more missing teeth.

Bridges are incredibly versatile. If you’re only missing one tooth and you have healthy surrounding teeth, a traditional dental bridge can restore your smile.

However, if you’re missing multiple teeth or your jaw or gums are unhealthy, your dentist may recommend another method of restoring your smile, such as dental implants.

Similar to crowns, getting a dental bridge requires two separate appointments.

At your first appointment, your dentist takes an impression of your teeth and sends the mold to a laboratory. During this appointment, your dentist also prepares your abutment teeth, filing down excess enamel.

At your second appointment, your provider administers a local anesthetic. Once your teeth and gums are numb, your dentist applies the crowns to your abutment teeth, with your bridge prosthetic filling the gap. After this process is complete, your dentist bonds the bridge to your teeth.

If you’re interested in restoring your smile with bridges or crowns, call or use the online booking tool to make an appointment at Kirkland Premier Dentistry today.