Hi guys, this is Dr.Jolvin Lee from Tooth Heaven. I'm here to talk about things in dentistry and the common materials we use here in dentistry.
Something that we're all passionate about. And it's what we love doing in Tooth Heaven. And today the main topic is to talk about something you hero sometimes and most times is crowns.
Now, before I move on any further, just a little disclaimer here is that just because we suggest these materials and we use these materials doesn't mean that it is used in your dental clinic as well.
Although most leading dental clinics, advanced dental clinics like Tooth Heaven would use these materials that we're gonna talk about. So I suggest you speak to your local professionals, speak to your dentist first and decide what's best for yourself.
So I guess the first question is what is a crown?
Now a crown is not just something you put over your head. Dentally speaking, it's basically, it's something that covers the tooth. So some people call crowns as caps as well.
What are crowns for?
Across the generally indicated for teeth that are weaker and what are we could teeth, teeth that have been raken out or the nerves have been taken out.
So we, we highly suggest after you have if you've undergone root canal to put something really strong over the top to give it the strength that it needs to last the number of years down the track. It is also indicated for teeth that are broken, heavily broken down provided there is just enough teeth to put a crown on.
A crown would be much better for compared to a filling in terms of time-wise, it can last much longer. It is indicated for cracks. We do use it for cracks quite a lot, because it stops things from spreading or expanding as you put pressure on it. It is also used for teeth that are going through high loads or high pressure.
So if you're bumping or if you're eating and biting down really hard on a particular tooth, which may or may not cause some pain or where or damage to the tooth, then you wanna put something strong over it. So it protects your precious tooth from being worn down.
What Are They Made Of?
Now, there are generally three types of materials out there currently at this stage and there's always going to be new materials coming out. And I'm sure there's new materials coming out as we speak. But the first one is metal.
Now in metal fillings, they consist of different materials. You know, some gold, some silver of course there are alloys and not pure gold, pure silver. And you know, they have a very good track record of lasting for decades, you know, and you probably know about it since your grandparents' days cause they might have a gold cap on it.
But I guess the downside is the cost.
These days because gold is pretty expensive and prices always go up for gold, but also with gold, it doesn't look nice. You know you can't put gold at the front tooth, unless you know in some cases it may look quite nice, but in the general public, we pretty much prefer white teeth.
Now there are also not a crown clone or more like the type of crown that's made out of ceramic.
A ceramic consists of different materials It's got feldspathic, lithium disilicate. And there's all sorts of other things as well. I mean, without trying to bore you with the details. Ceramic crowns are white crowns. They look very nice. They're very strong, very hard. And it does the job as well.
Now there is a newer type of material called zirconia.
Now zirconia might ring a bell to some people because the zirconia sounds like cubic zirconia. And what is cubic zirconia? Is manmade diamonds that girls love. So, you know those things are really, really hard and are very strong and it was zirconia these days where we usually use it on a commonly basis for people who are putting a little load on it because it's so strong it can withstand things really, really well. And it's white too.
What Is The Process Of Putting A Crown On?
Now, generally it takes two steps to do it. The first step is you, you first, you measure the tooth of, you adjust the tooth a little bit. You reshape the tooth slightly because you can't just put something on without taking a little bit of something off because otherwise it be too bulky. Depending on the thing you're trying to achieve. So it's a two step process where the first step is you adjust it, you take a mold of it or do in Tooth Heaven and most advanced clinics. We don't use that yucky mold anymore. We use a 3-D scan that scans it in 3-D and we send it to the labs which are more accurate and there's no distortion there and it comes back in the second step.
And in the second step, you just glue it on. You take off the tempo, you glue it on.
Of course, as I mentioned earlier, you take over a tempo because you're not gonna walk around with a shakedown to avoid just the tooth day. You'll have a temporary that covers and protects the tooth while we're waiting for the crown to come back. Now, I suppose the what is the general downside kind of a crown, you know general downside is the cost and it varies between clinics. It varies between countries of course, the exchange rate and everything like that. And depending on where you are as well.
And the other problem is I suppose, is the number of visits. Like I mentioned there are two visits usually now I suppose what are the upsides of it? The upside is that it's pretty long lasting, it lasts for decades regardless of the materials you choose metal, ceramics, zirconia.
Again depending, when we talk about metal has many types, when we talk about ceramic has many types zirconia has many types as well.
Again, if it's a leading dental clinic, it's pretty advanced that, they use the latest products they use the latest labs as well.
So, you know, they do tend to last for decades. I'm not too sure about other dental clinics, but I know at Tooth Heaven, we do provide warranties for it. As long as you look out for your teeth brush it clean, keep it clean.
We do replace it free of charge for a particular number of years If it breaks at no charge at all, of course.
So yes, you know I hope this gives you a rough idea of what crowns are. Again, seek the help of your local professional. If you want to find out more, or if you want to contact us at Tooth Heaven you'll find the details at the end of this video. So I hope this video has helped you in some way or form. And until the next time we see you take care and bye now.
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