Gorham Family Dentistry, PA
High-quality, comprehensive dental care in a warm, relaxed and friendly atmopshere

There are many reasons a crown may be recommended to restore a tooth including,
fractures, replacement of very large old fillings, after root canal therapy has been
performed and when not enough healthy tooth remains to support a filling.  When a
crown is made, the tooth is first shaped so that the crown can fit over it and still fit into
your bite and smile.  Then impressions are taken of the prepared tooth.  These
impressions will be sent to the dental laboratory where they will fabricate a crown
custom designed to fit your tooth.  The dentist or assistant will make a temporary crown
for you to wear while your crown is being made.  Once the crown has been fabricated,
you will return to the office where the dentist will remove the temporary and replace it
with your crown.  Our dentists generally use one of three types of crowns.  Each serves a
slightly different purpose:

All Porcelain Crown:
All porcelain crowns are generally used only for front teeth.  They do not have the added
strength of metal, meaning patients will need to be more careful with them.  However, if a
porcelain fused to metal crown is placed on a front tooth, the metal could eventually
show at the gumline due to gum recession as you age.  The metal would look like a
black line.  By using all porcelain, there is no metal to show and no need to worry about
black lines after time.  

Porcelain Fused to High Noble Metal Crown (PFM):
PFM crowns have the strength to withstand the pressure created by chewing because
the inside of the crown is made from metal .  The outside is covered with porcelain and
is specifically designed to match the shading of your natural teeth in the same area of
your mouth, allowing the crown to blend in with your teeth.

High Noble Metal or Gold Crowns:
Sometimes there is not enough room in a patients mouth to put porcelain over the metal
of a crown and still allow the patient to close their mouth properly.  In this case the dentist
can have the crown fabricated completely out of metal.  This option provides excellent
strength for chewing as well as allowing the dentist to retain more tooth structure.