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Crowns
A crown (often called a cap) fits over and replaces the entire part of a decayed tooth above the gum line. It encases the tooth and becomes the tooth's new outer surface.
You will typically need two or more visits to your dentist to repair a severely decayed tooth with a crown.
Crowns may be made of porcelain or a metal base covered with a thin layer of ceramic that matches your teeth and looks like a normal, healthy tooth. Crowns for the teeth in the back of the mouth may be made of gold.
During your first visit, your dentist will take out the decay and make an impression of your teeth to create a mold used for making the crown. Your dentist will:
- Numb your teeth, gums, tongue, and surrounding skin. Your dentist will first put a substance that feels like jelly directly on the area to start the numbing process, and then inject an anesthetic to complete it. Many dentists will give you nitrous oxide gas (laughing gas) to reduce your pain and help you relax.
- Sometimes use a small sheet of rubber on a metal frame (rubber dam) to target the decayed tooth and stop liquid and tooth chips from entering the mouth and throat.
- Drill out all the decay.
- Take an impression of the decayed tooth. The mold will allow a technician to make a crown that perfectly matches the drilled tooth.
- Cover the tooth with a temporary crown until your permanent crown is ready.
See pictures of a
tooth 
and tooth decay.
During your second visit, your dentist will:
- Numb your teeth and gums as before.
- Remove the temporary crown.
- Cement the permanent crown to the damaged tooth.
- Have you bite on a piece of carbon paper. This shows how well the crown is positioned. If necessary, your dentist will reshape and polish the crown.
| By: | Healthwise Staff | Last Revised: November 2, 2009 |
| Medical Review: | Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine Steven K. Patterson, BS, DDS, MPH - Dentistry | |
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