Dental implants can make a smile look fabulous – I know I have them. However, if you are just thinking about getting them, you may have a lot of questions. You may be wondering how smoking affects implants, whether or not wine will stain them, if they can be whitened or other concerns. I also know from experience that it can be intimidating to ask some of these questions to your dentist. In my dental implant blog, I am going to answer the questions that can be hard to ask. I hope you find the info you need in this blog and that it guides you to the right decision about dental implants. Thanks for reading!
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Concerned About a Cracked Crown: Should a Cracked Porcelain Crown Be Repaired or Replaced?
Isobel Berry
Did you know that porcelain crowns are harder and more resistant to wear than your natural teeth? You might doubt that if your porcelain crown has just recently cracked or chipped; however, no matter how strong a material, everything breaks eventually. The most appropriate question now, though, is obviously: should your crown now be replaced, or can it be repaired?
Porcelain crowns don't come cheap. Therefore, most patients would prefer to repair rather than replace them. However, whether a porcelain crown can be replaced or not depends on the situation, the type of crown, and the severity of the damage.
Porcelain Fused to Metal (PFM) Is Easier to Repair
Although most dentists nowadays have already moved on to using all-porcelain crowns for restoring teeth, dental crowns that contain metal are actually easier to repair. Where porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns are concerned, the porcelain sits on a thimble of metal. This means that when a breakage occurs, the crack or fracture very rarely affects the entire crown.
Therefore, if a piece of porcelain has broken off the metal of your crown, your dentist can repair the damage by applying some composite resin to the area. This resin can then be dried and polished so that it closely matches the rest of the crown. Bear in mind, however, that this type of repair will only last a few years, as composite resin is inferior to porcelain.
All-Porcelain Crowns Are More Difficult to Repair
In regards to all-porcelain crowns, when a breakage occurs, the damage often encompasses the entire crown or at least a large portion of it, as cracks often start at one end and extend to the other.
However, if the breakage is small—for example, a small chip—then the area can be smoothed and polished. A small amount of composite resin can also be placed and shaped to match the rest of the crown. This is still just a temporary solution however. Depending on your eating habits, the crown could fail again in a few months or years.
Broken Crowns on Molars Should Ideally Be Replaced
When broken crowns are on your molars, then unless the damage is minimal, replacement is the best option. You exert much more chewing force with your molars than with your other teeth. This means that any substantial repairs done on crowned molars may not last very long at all.
If your porcelain crown is chipped or broken, it can be repaired. Just make sure you plan ahead, and be careful about what you do with that tooth from now on as otherwise, it may break again.
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