If you’ve had a dental crown in the past, or heard about the experience from a family member, you may be worried about the process. How long does a dental crown take? Is it painful? Inconvenient?
“No two dental crowns are exactly the same,” says Dr. Michael Dolynchuk, dentist and owner of Dolynchuk Dental Center in Red Deer. “The materials and procedure can vary quite a lot, depending on the reason for the crown, the tooth’s location, and the skills and instruments available to your dentist.”
What is a dental crown?
A dental crown is a cover, placed on top of a damaged tooth. Crowns are often made from ceramic, zirconia, metal, porcelain-fused-to-metal (PFM) or resin.
What are the steps of a crown procedure?
- First, your dentist will examine and prepare your tooth. To create a strong foundation for the crown, they may reshape your existing tooth or add fillings.
- Next, your dentist will take a digital or dental mold impression, in order to create the new crown.
- The new crown may be created in a separate lab, where fabrication can take days or weeks. Your dentist may create a temporary resin crown while you wait. Dolynchuk Dental Center offers same-day crowns using CEREC (Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics). Your new ceramic crown will be created in the dental office, and ready in about 15 minutes.
- Your dentist will cement the crown into your smile, ensuring it fits your bite and matches the colour of your other teeth.
How long does it take to do a crown on a tooth?
In the past, permanent crowns took several weeks, because crowns could only be created in a separate lab. Now, some dentists offer same-day crowns using CEREC.
“Using CEREC is almost like flying an airplane — it takes practice to develop the appropriate skills, so your crown will look and feel great,” Dr. Dolynchuk says.
Dr. Dolynchuk and many of the other dentists at both Dolynchuk Dental Center and Caroline Dental Center have the training and experience to create same-day CEREC crowns.
Say cheese!
CEREC crowns do not require messy and uncomfortable dental molds. Instead, your dentist will take a digital impression of your teeth, in a process similar to smiling for a photograph. Thanks to computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), your custom dental crown or bridge will be made to your precise specifications, in just a few minutes. Once fitted and cemented into your mouth, you’ll be able to smile with confidence again!
Dr. Dolynchuk’s clinics in Caroline and Red Deer both offer CEREC implants, crowns and bridges. Find Caroline Dental Center at carolinedental.com and at 5103 48 Ave., Caroline. Call (403) 722-2122 to make an appointment. Find Dolynchuk Dental Center at dolynchukdental.ca, and at 6845 66 St., in Red Deer’s new QEII Wellness Centre.
Call (403) 309 2167 to make an appointment. They will be as happy to help you with your convenient crowns as much as you will enjoy the time saving precision benefits of timely crowns.