KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Missing or damaged teeth aren’t just cosmetic. The gaps they leave trap bacteria and raise your risk of decay and gum disease
- CEREC technology mills a custom porcelain crown in under ten minutes, so you walk out with a finished tooth in one visit
- No more temporary crowns or waiting weeks for a lab. One appointment replaces the old two-visit process
- All-porcelain crowns match your natural teeth and avoid the gray tint, allergies, and sensitivity that metal can cause
- Crowns do more than restore looks. They protect cracked teeth, ease pain from hairline fractures, and strengthen weak ones
Whether you’re losing teeth due to age or you’ve had a medical event that caused tooth loss, or damage to your teeth this loss can be difficult to handle. Not only can missing or damaged teeth cause a loss of self-confidence and esteem, it can also be harmful to your overall health. A lost, decaying or damaged tooth leaves behind an empty hole that creates an excellent environment for bacteria growth which can cause cavities, decay, and gum disease.
How “Teeth in a Day” Actually Works
In addition, any voids that your tooth might have previously filled can attract food particles causing bad breath and even more bacteria. Whatever the case may be, missing teeth creates an immediate need for a visit to your dentist. Gary C. Demetriou D.M.D. offers comprehensive and cosmetic dentistry that will leave you feeling extra confident about your smile and your oral health. One of the services offered is Cerec One-Visit Crowns.
What Is CEREC Technology?
You can come into our office and have new teeth with just one visit! The CEREC allows us to scan the tooth and then electronically send the information to the CEREC milling unit in the other room. The machine then mills the crown out of a block of porcelain in less than ten minutes. After it is completed, the crown is then ready to be crystallized and stained to the correct color and placed right into the patient’s mouth.
How Long Do CEREC Crowns Last?
With good care, a porcelain CEREC crown can last 10 to 15 years or more. Brushing twice a day, flossing, and keeping up with regular checkups all help your crown go the distance, just avoid chewing ice or using your teeth as tools.
What is a Dental Crown?
Where damage to a person’s teeth is extreme, and apparently beyond repair, we can use porcelain or porcelain “pasted on gold” crowns to make the smile appear “as new”. This is an extremely reliable technique for repairing the most severe of dental problems, even permanently replacing missing teeth to offer a complete smile and a functional bite. Material used in these repairs is either high-grade porcelain, or porcelain bonded to gold.
A higher strength of the porcelain and gold materials is recommended to treat the most serious of dental problems. Where accidental damage has occurred, resulting in lost teeth, or where teeth have broken away through excessive wear, or as the result of old fillings breaking, crowns and/or bridges can be used as a long-term solution.
Benefits of Dental Crowns
Not only does the CEREC allow us to save time and save an entire extra visit to our office for the patient, but it also has many other important benefits as well. Being able to complete in only one visit, this procedure eliminates the use of temporary crowns while the patient must wait a week or two for the permanent crown to come back from the lab.
The CEREC uses all porcelain instead of metal which gives the new teeth a much more life-like appearance by being able to match the color of the other teeth perfectly. The porcelain, as opposed to a metal crown, eliminates many issues such as any unnatural gray coloring of the tooth, any risk of an allergic reaction, any impact on the taste of food, and any expanding or contracting due to hot and cold food/drinks. The porcelain is also exceptionally strong and is a great substitute for the metal crowns.
Dental Crown Uses
There are many uses for dental crowns Dental crowns are often used to replace missing teeth, protect a weak tooth from breaking, hold together parts of a cracked tooth, restore an already broken or severely worn tooth, cover/support a tooth with a large filling, hold a dental bridge in place, over discolored teeth, cover a dental implant, and fix a smile. Major dental problems caused by accidents, diseases, or wear and tear can often be corrected by a dental crown.
Additionally, dental crowns can be used to alleviate excessive tooth pain.
Many people have unexplained pain from filled back teeth, which is usually due to hairline cracks in the chewing part of the tooth. Placing crowns on these teeth relieves the pain and allows a return of full dental function for these teeth. In front teeth, older fillings can both weaken the teeth and cause “appearance” problems due to staining or chipping. Porcelain crowns and bridges are suitable in cases where porcelain veneers are not. In teeth with root canal fillings, crowns can prevent breakage.
Same-Day Crowns vs. Traditional Crowns
Traditional crowns take two visits and a week or more of waiting, with a temporary crown in between. CEREC does it all in one appointment. No temporaries, no second trip, no impressions sitting in a lab. You get a permanent, custom-fit crown the same day.
A damaged tooth doesn’t have to wait
With CEREC one-visit crowns, you can walk in with a broken or worn tooth and leave the same day with a strong, natural-looking porcelain match. Dr. Gary C. Demetriou, DMD brings this technology to patients across North Andover, restoring smiles in a single appointment.
Cracked a tooth or in sudden pain? Don’t wait, the emergency dentist in North Andover can see you fast.
Want to keep reading? Find out what’s really behind bad breath, or weigh the pros and cons of veneers if you’re exploring cosmetic options.
Call 978-794-0010 or book online. Serving North Andover, Andover, Lawrence, and Methuen.