Dental crowns in Toronto can accomplish a lot of dental goals in a single step. Crowns can hide a badly stained and discoloured tooth when those stains can not be bleached away. Crowns can protect a tooth that has been rescued from unnecessary extraction via root canal therapy from future re-infection. Dental crowns also lend structural support to a damaged or fractured tooth. Crowns can also act as supports for dental bridges used to replace missing teeth.
One of the main disadvantages of dental crowns is the length of time that they typically take to be prepared. In most typical cases, it takes three separate dental appointments to prepare for, craft, fit and provide a dental crown. While having to attend three appointments alone can be significantly inconvenient, those appointments are typically spread over several weeks, during which the technicians at a dental laboratory create the crowns themselves. Even if attending those multiple appointments doesn’t seem like a serious nuisance, keep in mind that those appointments might come on the heels of other dental appointments and procedures — root canal or extractions, for example. If only there was a way to cut down the time it takes to prepare and provide dental crowns near you. In fact, there is!
A dental clinic in Toronto can now provide same-day dental crowns near you. same-day dental crowns are identical in shape and function to traditional dental crowns. The key distinctions between traditional and same-day crowns boil down to these: your crowns will be prepared in your dentist’s office on the same-day as your dentist measures your teeth for crowns; and your new crowns will be made while you wait (or run errands for an hour or so, if you’d prefer) and be fit onto your teeth on the very same-day.
What is the process of getting same-day crowns at a dental clinic near you?
There are five basic steps to providing same-day crowns using computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) technology. While any individual patient’s procedure may require unique steps and procedures, these same five steps are present in every typical same-day crown process.
Step 1: Using a wand with an integrated camera, your dentist will record three-dimensional images of your teeth and gums, including the tooth or teeth being fit with the crown.
Step 2: The digital images will be sent to a computer with software capable of designing a crown to accomplish your needs and to fit over the tooth in question. Before the crown is produced, your dentist will review the proposed design and adjust it if necessary.
Step 3: CAM software will be used to guide the milling of your crown from a block of ceramic material. The CAM-guided milling machine will be located in the dentist’s office and will perform the milling while you wait or run errands.
Step 4: After your dental crown has been crafted by the milling machine, your dentist will summon you back to the office, where your dentist will “dry fit” the crown by placing it over the tooth without any adhesive or cement. The goal of the dry fit is to confirm that the crown both fits in place and will accomplish the goal for which the crown was designed.
Step 5: Once the fit and effectiveness of the crown have been confirmed by your dentist (or any adjustments have been made), it will be placed permanently in place using firm finger pressure and specialized dental cement adhesives.
If your dental clinic in Toronto has recommended that you be fit with a crown, ask if same-day crowns may be available. Investments in equipment, software and training into same-day crown technology are one example of dentists’ commitments to providing the services and products you need in the most convenient and efficient way possible.