What Are Dental Crowns and Bridges?

Whether it's a weakened tooth or a missing one, dental crowns and bridges are your dentist's go-to tool for helping bring back your smile. If you would like to know much more please contact Dr. William Gerard in Livingston, NJ.

Protecting Your Smile

A dental crown is at its very base a protective cap for a tooth. This cap can be made of a multitude of materials, including metals and porcelains, deciding which is best for you will be up to you and your dentist.

This cap is also made to resemble a natural tooth so that once it is set, and given the right materials, cannot be differentiated from the rest of your teeth except on very close inspection.

There are many reasons why a tooth may require the protection of a dental crown.

When a cavity is much too large for a regular filling your doctor may use a crown. Similarly, teeth damaged or misshapen, or even heavily discolored, due to trauma or wear will also benefit from one.

A root canal requires that a large portion of the dental structure be removed in order to perform this tooth-saving procedure. So in order to protect your tooth a dental crown is usually required.

Restoring Your Smile

Teeth, unfortunately, cannot always be saved. Whether the culprit is decay, accident, or almost any other condition, your dentist can restore the missing tooth with a dental bridge.

It's very important to replace a missing tooth as its absence allows other teeth to begin to shift into the empty space. This can cause a number of problems with teeth coming too close together, or moving far apart, and thus creating difficult to clean spaces in between them. It's in these spaces that plaque likes to hide, which opens the path for disease and decay.

A bridge can close this gap. They are typically composed of a series of crowns, some will be placed on healthy teeth and act as support for the crown that is meant to fill the gap left by the missing tooth.

Crowns and Bridges in Livingston, NJ

Whether you are looking to protect or restore your smile crowns and bridges can help. Don't go another day with an incomplete smile, make an appointment today with Dr. Gerard in Livingston, NJ, by dialing (973) 740-1277.