What It Means to Save a Tooth with a Dental Crown
Many people recognize that the point of restoring a tooth is to stop it from suffering any further damage and to alleviate any discomfort that has resulted from the problem in their tooth. However, the specific ways in which a custom-made restoration such as a dental crown can save your tooth aren’t always clear. Depending on the nature of your tooth’s damage and how extensively its structure is compromised, the right dental crown can help save you from a need for more extensive treatment, or from losing or having to extract the tooth later.
Addressing damage to the tooth’s structure
One of the most common reasons for recommending that a dental crown be placed over a tooth is to stop any damage to its natural crown structure from getting worse. This might include a fracture in the tooth’s crown structure, which can lead to increasingly worse discomfort and a weakening of the tooth’s structural integrity. Or, it may mean a piece of the tooth has broken off, which be the start of worsening tooth wear and damage that can further compromise the tooth. In any case, damage to your tooth will continuously grow worse, as will any resulting pain or aching in your tooth, until it’s treated.
Saving the tooth from loss or extraction
When damage to your tooth becomes severe, a dental crown may be the only way to fully restore the tooth’s strength, integrity, and ability to function properly. Crowning the tooth may also be the best way to help you avoid the loss of the tooth, or the need to extract it due to extreme damage. In extreme cases, a compromised tooth may no longer be able to support a custom dental crown or any other restoration, and extracting it may be necessary to avoid further complications with your oral health. Before the tooth’s problems becomes this severe, you may be able to avoid losing the tooth by restoring it with a lifelike dental crown.
Restoring the tooth’s ability to function
Restoring a tooth with a lifelike dental crown is important to saving the tooth from loss or extraction. Yet, this is only possible because the crown is also able to restore the tooth’s ability to function properly, including absorbing its share of your bite’s overall pressure. When your tooth is damaged, the discomfort and the weakening of your tooth structure can make it difficult or impossible for the tooth fully absorb this pressure, which can negatively impact the overall function of your bite. With a custom-made dental crown placed over it, the tooth can regain its structural integrity and its proper place in your bite’s function.
Learn if a dental crown can save your tooth
By capping your tooth’s natural crown structure, a custom-designed dental crown can save the tooth in several important ways. To learn more, call our Cleveland Family Dentistry office in Cleveland, TX, today at (281) 592-1234.