General — 6 min read
Crowns
A crown replaces the outer surface of a tooth entirely. Done well it is indistinguishable and lasts twenty years; done poorly it traps bacteria at the margin and fails from underneath.
Screened and introduced free, usually within a few hours. Sunny Isles Beach, Florida and the surrounding corridor.
Indications
A crown is usually the right restoration when
A crown covers the whole visible tooth, binding the remaining structure together. Its purpose is structural: to stop a weakened tooth from splitting under function.
- A tooth has cracked, or hurts sharply on release when you bite something hard
- A root canal has been completed on a back tooth
- A filling now occupies more of the tooth than the tooth does
- A cusp has already broken off
- An old crown has decay at its margin or a visible dark line at the gum
- Severe wear has shortened the tooth beyond what bonding can restore
Good candidate if
- The tooth is cracked, heavily filled or root-canal-treated
- Enough sound structure remains, or can be built with crown lengthening
- You want the material chosen for the position and your bite
- You will wear a night guard if you grind
No cost, no obligation, no lead list.
The detail
Material, margin, and the case for an onlay instead
A crown replaces the outer surface of a tooth entirely. Done well it is indistinguishable and lasts twenty years; done poorly it traps bacteria at the margin and fails from underneath.
Monolithic zirconia is extremely strong and the sensible default for molars, particularly for grinders — it is milled from one block with nothing to chip off. Lithium disilicate is the front-tooth material: strong enough for the load there, and far more lifelike because it transmits light rather than blocking it. Layered zirconia combines a strong core with aesthetic porcelain, with the trade-off that the layer can chip. Porcelain-fused-to-metal is now rarely the best choice, since the metal collar tends to show as a grey line as gums recede.
The margin decides longevity, not the material. It must be smooth, continuous and placed where you can clean it — ideally at or slightly above the gum line rather than buried deep beneath it. Margins hidden below the gum for aesthetic reasons are harder to seal, harder to clean and reliably inflame the tissue around them. Before agreeing to a crown at all, ask whether an onlay would do: if the tooth has intact walls, a bonded onlay preserves far more tooth structure for the same protection.
The sequence
What actually happens, in order.
Timings vary between practices and cases. The order does not — and a plan that skips a step is worth asking about.
Assess restorability
How much sound tooth remains, whether crown lengthening or a build-up is needed, and whether an onlay would suffice.
Preparation
The tooth is reduced by one to two millimetres and shaped with a defined, cleanable margin. About an hour.
Scan and provisional
A digital scan or impression, then a temporary crown that protects the margin and the bite until the final arrives.
Laboratory or chairside
One to two weeks with a laboratory, or milled and glazed in a single visit where the practice has CEREC.
Fit and verify
Contacts, margins and bite checked, then cemented or bonded. Ask for a radiograph afterwards confirming margin seal.
Getting the right hands
Who should be doing your crowns.
This is the variable that decides your result, and it is the one you have least ability to assess from the outside.
Not years in dentistry. How many of these they do in a month, and what the difficult ones looked like.
Anyone can photograph a result on delivery day. We want to see it after it has been used.
CBCT, microscope, scanner, printer — whichever this case genuinely requires, on site rather than referred out.
For anything ceramic, the technician is half the result. A dentist who cannot name theirs is outsourcing blind.
Crowns FAQ
What people ask us about crowns.
Including the cost question, answered with a real range rather than a request to call.
Typically $1,200 to $2,500 per crown depending on material and the laboratory. Zirconia and lithium disilicate sit in the middle to upper part of that band. If a build-up, post or crown lengthening is needed first, each adds several hundred dollars — ask for those to be itemised in the quote.
Zirconia for molars, where strength matters most and appearance matters least. Lithium disilicate for front teeth, where its translucency is far more convincing. For premolars either can be correct, depending on how visible the tooth is and how heavily you load it.
For a single posterior crown, milled monolithic ceramic is excellent and saves you a temporary and a second visit. For front teeth, a skilled ceramist working over two weeks can still produce characterisation and translucency that chairside milling does not match.
Common causes are a high bite contact needing adjustment, an inflamed nerve that may go on to need a root canal, or a crack extending below the crown. Sensitivity for a week or two after fitting is normal; pain persisting beyond a month should be reassessed.
Yes — at the margin where crown meets tooth, which is the usual failure point. The crown material itself cannot decay, but the tooth beneath it can. Flossing that margin daily and having the fit radiographed periodically is what prevents it.