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Dental Crowns - What Is the Proper Material For You? Gold Vs Porcelain Vs Ceramic
in Bugs
Crowns are available in several different types of material, and it is often difficult to identify which one would be excellent for your particular situation. We'd like to try to clear up these differences and identify which substances have a distinct advantage over the others. 1 material we're very excited about is made from a zirconium dioxide dealing, almost like a porcelain fused to metal crown, that's overlaid with lovely layering ceramic. Before getting into this, however, let us look at all of the alternatives.
Gold Crowns
Comparing to each of the other substances, gold is the one that you have to say is true and tried. It is a really conservative crown material choice, and put just it simply works. The negative aspect of this includes when you look at the appearance of the crown, of course this would not be the most aesthetic choice. In our training, patients come in all the time with lovely gold restorations, and although they are clinically acceptable, the individual wants them replaced. This is just due to the appearance, which may not seem important to a specialist, but to your patient that is a major issue. Gold isn't something which may be concealed, it's a substance that stands out visually.
Porcelain Fused to Metal Dental Crowns (PFM)
Another choice of material is that the porcelain fused to metal crown. Again, this is a time tested substance which utilizes a metal coping, or center. This metal then needs to be opaque and overlaid with ceramic. If you provide enough space, this process can really look very aesthetically pleasing. To allow for this room, the negative aspect is that this requires a very aggressive prep. Typically we'd love to see about a 2mm reduction so that the influence of the metal core coping can be concealed. 2mm may not seem like a lot but depending on the situation it may be important.
Zirconium Layered with Ceramic
This brings us into the ceramic materials, which can be actually zirconium layered with ceramic. The crown choice described uses a zirconia center very similar to a porcelain fused to metal crown. Since the zirconium center is dentin shaded, no opaque is necessary like having a PFM and also the esthetics surpasses that of most PFM's.
Gold, PFM, Zirconium Layered Ceramic Comparison
To compare these three materials correctly we have to look at the conservation of tooth structure. Typically with gold, we would see a restoration that can be as thin as 1 mm on the occlusal (possibly even a little bit thinner), and 3-5mm axial or facial reduction. Together with PFM, this becomes about 2 mm over the occlusal and 2.0mm axially. A ceramic material, due to the translucency of the core, is as thin as 1.5 mm on the occlusal and may be 1mm into 1.5mm to the axial wall, so it's a more conservative prep than the PFM but not quite as conservative as the gold.
What dental crowns and bridges are seeing here is that we have created an extremely visually pleasing and aesthetic selection for crowns. At exactly the exact same time, since a dentist you can be much more conservative with your prep than with other choices. Even focusing purely on the visual appearance and feel of the tooth, either side by side the ceramic vs. a typical PFM choice, you can certainly see the difference. The translucency permitted from the ceramic makes it look almost like a natural tooth, when compared with metal based restorations.
Final Conclusions
Should we look at other aspects that matter to a patient, the question that our patients constantly ask is that one charges the most? So far as price to the dentist, then the gold recovery is nearly always likely to be the most expensive. The 2nd most expensive typically will become your PFM or porcelain fused to metal crowns. This is true especially in the event that you use a previous or semi-precious alloy for the core, but it can vary. The ceramic generally is the least expensive option because of the materials involved.
When looking at price and the rest of the advantages or disadvantages, we find a clear option for most patients and scenarios. While being a slightly less conservative prep than gold, the ce
Gold Crowns
Comparing to each of the other substances, gold is the one that you have to say is true and tried. It is a really conservative crown material choice, and put just it simply works. The negative aspect of this includes when you look at the appearance of the crown, of course this would not be the most aesthetic choice. In our training, patients come in all the time with lovely gold restorations, and although they are clinically acceptable, the individual wants them replaced. This is just due to the appearance, which may not seem important to a specialist, but to your patient that is a major issue. Gold isn't something which may be concealed, it's a substance that stands out visually.
Porcelain Fused to Metal Dental Crowns (PFM)
Another choice of material is that the porcelain fused to metal crown. Again, this is a time tested substance which utilizes a metal coping, or center. This metal then needs to be opaque and overlaid with ceramic. If you provide enough space, this process can really look very aesthetically pleasing. To allow for this room, the negative aspect is that this requires a very aggressive prep. Typically we'd love to see about a 2mm reduction so that the influence of the metal core coping can be concealed. 2mm may not seem like a lot but depending on the situation it may be important.
Zirconium Layered with Ceramic
This brings us into the ceramic materials, which can be actually zirconium layered with ceramic. The crown choice described uses a zirconia center very similar to a porcelain fused to metal crown. Since the zirconium center is dentin shaded, no opaque is necessary like having a PFM and also the esthetics surpasses that of most PFM's.
Gold, PFM, Zirconium Layered Ceramic Comparison
To compare these three materials correctly we have to look at the conservation of tooth structure. Typically with gold, we would see a restoration that can be as thin as 1 mm on the occlusal (possibly even a little bit thinner), and 3-5mm axial or facial reduction. Together with PFM, this becomes about 2 mm over the occlusal and 2.0mm axially. A ceramic material, due to the translucency of the core, is as thin as 1.5 mm on the occlusal and may be 1mm into 1.5mm to the axial wall, so it's a more conservative prep than the PFM but not quite as conservative as the gold.
What dental crowns and bridges are seeing here is that we have created an extremely visually pleasing and aesthetic selection for crowns. At exactly the exact same time, since a dentist you can be much more conservative with your prep than with other choices. Even focusing purely on the visual appearance and feel of the tooth, either side by side the ceramic vs. a typical PFM choice, you can certainly see the difference. The translucency permitted from the ceramic makes it look almost like a natural tooth, when compared with metal based restorations.
Final Conclusions
Should we look at other aspects that matter to a patient, the question that our patients constantly ask is that one charges the most? So far as price to the dentist, then the gold recovery is nearly always likely to be the most expensive. The 2nd most expensive typically will become your PFM or porcelain fused to metal crowns. This is true especially in the event that you use a previous or semi-precious alloy for the core, but it can vary. The ceramic generally is the least expensive option because of the materials involved.
When looking at price and the rest of the advantages or disadvantages, we find a clear option for most patients and scenarios. While being a slightly less conservative prep than gold, the ce