A dental crown is a tooth-shaped cover that restores strength, shape and size to a damaged or decayed tooth, improves its appearance and fits comfortably with the other teeth in your mouth. It can be used to treat severely decayed or damaged teeth that are too weakened for a filling, to replace a missing tooth, to help support a bridge and even to cover dental implants.

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Crowns can be made of various materials, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Porcelain crowns are the most popular and preferred as they closely mimic the natural colour and translucency of your teeth, and blend seamlessly with the rest of your smile. They are made by custom layering feldspathic porcelain on top of a ceramic core (such as Zirconia), which can be ‘bonded’ directly to the tooth surface or layered over a prepared metal or composite veneer.

Metal crowns are usually made of gold or other noble metals but can also be base-metal alloys like cobalt-chromium or nickel-chromium. These are harder and more durable than other crowns, so they can withstand the most intense biting and chewing. However, they do have a metallic appearance which some patients don’t find attractive. They are best suited to out-of-sight molars and can provide protection from teeth grinding and jaw clenching.

CAD/CAM milled ceramic crowns are made using a digital scanner to make a model of your tooth. The software then makes a 3D design that the machine can ‘carve’ out of a solid block of ceramic in around 15 minutes. This is a faster and more cost-effective alternative to the traditional ‘lab-produced’ ceramic crowns, which are crafted from a mould and take much longer to complete.