A crown is a tooth-shaped cap that restores your healthy tooth above the gum line. A dental crown or dental cap is a dental procedure done to repair damaged tooth to its original shape, strength, and size. It is crucial in the functionality and development of a baby’s way of speaking, eating, and drinking with no pain. A dental cap is usually recommended by a paediatric dentist to help restore or stabilize the damaged tooth in babies as a result of cavities, broken and undeveloped teeth.
Procedure for the dental crown
- Undertaking dental x-rays to aid in visual. Devices for children such as dental panorama provides a calm experience to children, has advanced shielding against radiation and provides high-resolution images.
- The second step is the dentist numbing the gums and teeth surrounding the crown.
- Removing and cleaning any tooth decay.
- Reshaping the tooth to aid for tooth capping.
- Making of the dental crown; in the case of permanent, it is done in the dental lab while in case of temporary, the dentist can do it in this office.
- Fitting your tooth to a dental crown.
- Having a second dental x-ray to ensure your dental crowns fit well.
Reasons for a dental crown in babies
Dental caps are primarily useful in baby’s teeth mainly for:
- Recovery of the damaged tooth to its original shape, size, and strength.
- Crown restoration prevents further decay of the tooth. Primary teeth are different from adult teeth. The enamel of baby teeth is much thinner from the adult teeth, thus making it easy for decay to spread.
- Speech development- crown restoration procedure aids in filling gap spaces, these facilitates in speech development in babies
- Jaw development- it aids in the growth and development of baby’s teeth.
- Alignment – besides fixing the damaged tooth, tooth cap aids in aligning teeth and thus facilitate natural growth in permanent teeth.
- Biting and chewing –tooth cap helps in proper chewing and biting of food.
Types of Dental Crowns
There are four types of dental crown. They include:
- Stainless steel
- Porcelain fused to metal crown
- Zirconia ceramic crown
- Resin veneer crowns
Stainless steel crown
These are metal cap used by a paediatric dentist to repair or restore tooth decay (molar) in the primary tooth. It the best dental crown as it is durable and less prone to fractures; they are fit for primary teeth to prevent further damage.
Porcelain-fused-to-metal crown
This is a portion of both metal and porcelain; it a tooth cap that is made to match one’s colour of regular teeth — having a more natural tooth colour. However, they can break or chip quickly, thus wearing down the teeth. They are mostly suitable for front teeth.
Zirconia ceramic crown
In case one is hypersensitive to metal, these are the best choice. They are inexpensive and can be made to match one’s teeth colour.
Resin veneer crown
It is the cheapest compared to the other types of crown. If one is considering having a dental crown, it will be the best option as it is temporary.
Temporary crown versus permanent crown
A temporary crown is acrylic material or stainless steel and is made in a dentist office whereas permanent crowns are made in a dental laboratory.
Importance of dental crown in kids
Restoration and protection
A dental crown can restore spoiled or decayed teeth to help in the appearance and functioning of the tooth. For instance, in the case of root canal therapy, the procedure involves cutting and damaging blood vessels and nerves leading to bacterial infection. Dental crown assists in filling up such spaces and damages preventing bacterial infections. Thus restoring and protecting the tooth.
Stabilization
A dental crown can correct conditions such as dental bridges or dental denture. According to a survey, dental bridges, gaps left by missing teeth can result in damaging of the gums. This cause shifting of remaining teeth into empty spaces; resulting in inadequate biting and temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder.
A tooth crown is put in between two healthy teeth, one on the area of the missing tooth. This provides a bridge to anchor two points where the bridge can be in a firm position
The longevity of the baby’s teeth
Proper taking care of baby teeth is of crucial importance to a child oral health. Parents don’t understand the vital stages of maintaining proper oral health to avoid tooth decay. As per a study, crown plays a pivotal role in protecting teeth against bacterial infections, thus maintaining primary teeth until they fall out. It enables permanent teeth to shape and grow into the right shape, size, and strength.
Speech development
It is a crucial factor in the child’s growth. Thus, crown restoration aids in filling gaps as results of tooth decay, missing teeth, or undeveloped tooth. According to a study, children with the dental disorder suffer in articulating themselves, compared to children who don’t suffer from dental diseases and those with dental crowns.
Strengthening baby teeth
Besides protecting and restoring tooth shape and size, a tooth crown can aid in reinforcing effects on the baby tooth. Both stainless and porcelain-fused-to-metal crown provides strength to facilitating biting and proper chewing.
Alignment
Large gap and missing tooth in between teeth can cause shifting and drifting of teeth. This brings about crooked teeth. Dental crown assist in filling the spaces caused by tooth decay and other factors such as broken tooth etc. thus helps shape and align the permanent teeth.
Conclusion
A dental crown is vital to a child’s teeth development. With proper procedure done, one is surely guaranteeing that his or her child will have strong and healthy teeth.
