What’s the Life Expectancy of a Crown?

A dental crown is an effective way to repair a damaged tooth and restore the appearance of your smile. With the right care, your new dental crown can last for many years before it needs to be replaced.

At Allure Dental of Hollywood, our skilled dental team offers comprehensive dental services to place crowns and bridges as well as crown-capped implants when you damage or lose your natural teeth. We also provide guidance to help you care for your teeth and dental devices, so you can maintain your restorations and your oral health for years to come.

What to know about dental crowns

A dental crown is an artificial tooth, or synthetic “cap,” that fits over your natural teeth. We use crowns to repair premolars and molars, or the larger chewing teeth at the back of your mouth.

Crowns are a restoration option for decayed or damaged teeth that can’t be repaired with fillings. Typically, crowns are made of durable materials like porcelain or resin to provide you with long-lasting results.

Once a crown is in place, it restores the shape, size, and strength of your tooth. We can also use crowns to restore the appearance of a permanently stained tooth.

Reasons you might need a dental crown

In addition to repairing a tooth damaged by an injury or decay, our team might recommend a crown to:

• Finish a dental implant
• Hold a bridge in place
• Strengthen a weak tooth
• Cover a misshapen tooth
• Hide a discolored tooth

If you need a root canal to treat an infected tooth, we can cement a crown over your natural tooth to prevent further decay and infection.

Caring for your crown

You should take care of your crown just like you would your natural teeth by brushing and flossing several times a day.

It’s also important that you schedule routine dental exams at Allure Dental of Hollywood, so we can check your overall oral health every six months. We provide comprehensive dental cleanings to eliminate stubborn plaque deposits that your toothbrush simply can’t remove at home.

With a good oral hygiene routine, your dental crown can last up to 15 years — or possibly longer.

How to treat a damaged crown

Sometimes a dental crown can become loose or even fall off your natural tooth. If you have bruxism and grind your teeth, or if you like to eat very hard or chewy foods, your crown may need to be repaired or replaced sooner than you expected.

If you think you have a damaged or loose crown, visit our office as soon as possible. Our dental team can look at your crown and the tooth underneath to determine how best to treat you.

Waiting too long to have your crown fixed can increase the likelihood that bacteria will get into the space between the crown and your natural tooth, which can lead to tooth decay, infection, and pain.

In some cases, we can clean the crown and bond it to your tooth with cement right away. If the crown has sustained too much damage, however, our team may need to take impressions of your teeth to have a new crown made.

To schedule a crown placement or repair appointment, call Allure Dental of Hollywood in Hollywood, Florida, today, or use our easy online booking feature to make an appointment any time.