Crowns and Bridges

Dr. Haugen Simplified Crown Information

A crown is a custom-made covering that fits over an original tooth that is either decayed, damaged, or cracked. Here at Zumbro View Dental, we offer the highest level of comfort and care for dental crowns involving a mix of materials based on your personal needs and desires.

Types of Dental Crowns

• Highest noble gold alloy crowns on back teeth for durability.
• Highest noble metal alloy with porcelain fused for a "white" esthetic durable surface.
• Highest esthetic of all porcelain crowns provided with care and detail.
• Newest crown option with the all Zirconia crown! This is the most durable "white" crown available on the market. The solid material will not experience traditional veneer material fracture.

The treatment plan for a patient receiving a crown involves:

1. Numbing the tooth to remove the decay in or around it.
2. Re-sculpturing the tooth to provide an ideal fit for the crown.
3. Making an impression of your teeth in order to create a custom-made crown (usually takes one to two weeks).
4. Making a temporary crown out of acrylic resin and fitting it onto the tooth during the interim period when the custom-made crown is being created.
5. Applying the custom-made crown (when received from the lab) by removing the temporary crown and fitting the custom-made one onto the tooth.
6. After ensuring that the crown has the proper look and fit, the dentist cements it into place.

This process generally consists of a minimum of two to three visits over a three to four-week period. Once the procedure is completed, proper dental hygiene, including daily brushing and flossing, is required to maintain healthy, bacteria-free teeth, gums, and crowns. This helps in the prevention of gum disease. Given proper care, your crowns can last a lifetime.

Cracked Tooth

Rest assured Dr. Haugen has been in practice 35+ years and acknowledges not all 'wear and tear' on teeth for patients in their 40's , 60's or 80's is a problem. Experience matters. Like Dr. Haugen pledges to his current patients he has taken care of for decades, Dr. Haugen makes the following pledge to all new patients as well: 

He will carefully monitor your teeth for decades if you select to seek your general care in our practice. 

Clearly there are small imperfections/small 'cracks' they may develop over time but that does not mean that these imperfections all result in problems. Some small imperfections may actually be small 'cracks' in the tooth shell.

However, that pledge of detail and custom monitoring from time to time may yield a medium or large weak split or crack in the tooth shell. In general, this may result in one or more of the following outcomes:

          1.  A portion of the tooth starts to hurt when you chew on it.

          2.  A portion of the tooth or current 'filling' actually breaks away yet is 'fixable with a dental crown.

          3.  A portion of the tooth or current 'filling' extensively breaks away and is not 'fixable' and the tooth has to be 'pulled'.

Please see display provided next for a summary of this topic. Please see Dr. Haugen and his staff if you have other questions or concerns. We invite you to be aware of your teeth and help us help you maintain as many teeth as possible for a lifetime.