White Dental Crowns Highlands Ranch Dentist, Denver Dentistry

White dental crowns

There have been many innovations in dentistry especially in the last decade. Years ago about our only option was a gold crown. Over time this morphed into porcelain fused to metal dental crowns (PFM). Today, there are a number of very strong non-metal substructures that can be used to fabricate a dental crown. Dr. James DeLapp and Dr. H. Candace DeLapp, Highlands Ranch Dentists, provide non-metal alternatives to traditional porcelain fused to metal crowns. This Highlands Ranch dental office also serves dental patients from Lone Tree, Castle Pines, Centennial, Douglas County, Parker, Ken Caryl and the Denver area.

One of the materials our Highlands Ranch dentist use is “Lava Zirconia” from 3M ESPE. This is a digitally produced zirconia restoration that provides strength and natural aesthetics. The research and application of this material is over 25 years even though this material has only been recently introduced into the dental market. The shading system is available in 8 shades and improves the optical characteristics to make this material look better than porcelain fused to metal crowns.

Another material used in dentistry and can be used for dental implants, as well as natural teeth is Procera. Our Highlands Ranch dentists use this material made from Nobel Biocare. Procera is an all-ceramic zirconia that increases flexure strength of around 1200 MPa. It can be made as thin as 0.7 mm and up to 0.4mm thickness in the aesthetic zone. This ability to make this material exceedingly thin improves our ability to make the dental crown more esthetic.

Do these new materials spell the end to the traditional Porcelain fused to metal (PFM) restoration? Absolutely not! There are still instances where the PFM is appropriate and even preferred. Teeth with root canals and large metal posts need the ability to block out the underlying metal and the PFM will accomplish this task quite nicely.
If you have any questions of our Highlands Ranch dentist please feel free to contact our office for a complimentary dental consultation. Our Highlands Ranch dentists can be reached at (303) 694-9740 or by clicking on this link to send us an e-mail Highlands Ranch Dentistry.