Attn: Nebula D, Tomh311, joe, Angela DDS, Dr. Sam, Dr. TomBMW.M-3.M-5: Question Concerning Porcelain Crown!?

My appearance is very important 2 me and thus my only option is 2 get a natural-looking crown (as in tooth-colored). What r the pros and cons 4 porcelain-fused-to-metal vs. porcelain-fused-to-gold vs. all porcelain? Which of these would u recommend 4 a tooth that is towards the front of my mouth and used 4 tearing food (ex. sandwiches)?





Btw, I am very careful w/ my teeth and thus don't chew very hard things anyway.





Oh, and please feel free to answer this question even if ur name isn't mentioned above.

Attn: Nebula D, Tomh311, joe, Angela DDS, Dr. Sam, Dr. TomBMW.M-3.M-5: Question Concerning Porcelain Crown!?
IF there is enough tooth to work with, an all porcelain crown is the best for esthetics. They are quite satisfactory for strength also. You would be interested in getting an Empress, Lava or Procera crown. It might kind of freak your dentist out if you used the brand names, but I guess the information is out there. If your dentist wants some gold in the crown for any reason, maybe a Captek would work out okay. If strength is really a major concern, porcelain-fused-to-gold might be better than some of the other crowns I mentioned. You could have an all-porcelain margin where it would show. While a porcelain-fused-to-gold is generally regarded as having higher strength, there might be a bit of a problem masking out the metal and then the opacity of the inner layer of porcelain can kind of make the tooth look less life-like. Also, I think all three of the all-porcelain crowns I mentioned come with a five year warranty from any lab. Five years is no big deal as far as I am concerned, but at least it's something. I have some Empress crowns that are in service for more than 10-12 years now, but that's about as long as the product has been available. I see no reason to believe they will not work as long or longer than some of the aluminious porcelain crowns ("Old" style all-porcelain crowns) that I have had in place for 20, 25 or even 30 years now. I just did the front six for one of my assistants and, after seeing several different kinds of crowns, she asked for Empress, which I was pleased to do.
Reply:Okay. DO NOT get too hung up on a certain brand of crown, though. You might tell your dentist that you want an "all porcelain" crown like Lava or Empress and let him take it from there. Good luck. Report It