Chose The Right Treatment For Your Dental Health
Any treatment that is advised must be done so because it happens to be the most appropriate choice for any given situation.
Crowns offer a different advantage to fillings. They are both chosen for different reasons. Therefore we cannot say that a crown is necessarily better than a filling or conversely that a filling is better than a crown. Find out more about our restorative treatments.
Each treatment used in the right situation will be the most advantageous for the patient.
Fillings restore teeth
Fillings are used in situations where most of the tooth is still intact and does not need any further support. Hence a filling simply rebuilds and restores a tooth back to its original morphology and shape.
They do not have any additional support or protection function. However, the tooth coloured fillings done these days adhere to the tooth in such a way as to provide an excellent seal between the tooth and filling. This concept is called “bonding”.
Crowns support and protect weakened teeth
A crown is usually advised when the remaining tooth structure has been weakened and the tooth now is unable to support itself. This can be due to a number of reasons: by previous damage or fractures, past treatments of repetitive fillings, deep large fillings and root canal treatments.
A crown protects the remaining tooth structure. If a crown is not done in these situations and a large filling is left then there could be an increased risk of tooth fracturing in the future.
This can lead to a very poor prognosis for the tooth in the future, which may eventually need to be extracted. So to prevent the loss of the tooth in this way we recommend a crown treatment. Find out more.
Even distribution of bite forces
A crown is a way of preventing biting forces from putting excessive pressure on any one point of the tooth.
A crown allows the chewing forces to be evenly distributed and dissipated all over the tooth and not just at any one focal point.
This means that the tooth is less likely to break in the future and hence will last a long time.
The main disadvantage of crowns over fillings
The main disadvantage comes in the amount of tooth preparation or tooth cutting needed when doing a crown versus a filling. Do crowns hurt?
Fillings (especially tooth coloured one) do not need any additional cavity preparation. We simply remove any sharp edges and clean up any decay and staining. Then the tooth with whatever resulting shaped cavity is simply filled.
We use very strong adhesive to bond the filling to the tooth; thus providing a very good seal.
In regards to a crown, a large part of the tooth needs to be prepared and cut to accommodate the thickness of the porcelain.
Unfortunately, with crowns, we cannot make them super thin since they are supporting the whole tooth. Find out if a crown hurts more than a filling.
An excellent seal between the tooth and artificial material in both cases
Both crowns and fillings are sealed using bonding techniques which inhibits and deterioration at the tooth/filling interjunction. It also further inhibits any bacteria from attacking the teeth any this point.
As you can see, no one treatment is “better” than the other. It’s simply a case of choosing the right treatment for the right job.
We have consulting rooms in London and Hertfordshire. You can book a free consultation with us today. For more information on our treatments or if you’re interested in booking an appointment, contact our Hertford practice on 01992 552115.
