Metal Crown Replacement Guide: What You Need To Know

Dentistry is about saving and conserving healthy teeth and oral tissues, while restoring damaged and missing ones.

This art of dental restoration is mainly dependent on a dentist. A dental professional's expertise and experience adds fine finish but still the major success of the treatment depends upon the quality, nature, and type of materials or consumables used.

Metal Crowns are one of the oldest and most traditional restorations or dental crown that used for missing teeth. They are fabricated using metal alloys and continue to be restored in lots of dental clinics and patients irrespective of their age group are happy having them.

In this article, we will discuss why the metal crowns need an update and what are the options that can replace them.

Metal Crown: Introduction and Insights

Metal crowns are metal teeth caps, made to support the weak or damaged teeth. These traditional metal teeth crowns are made of gold, nickel, chromium, or combined metal alloys and have been used in dental practice since the late 1940s.

Before that, there were metal dental crowns made of animals tissue, ivory and pure gold. Later in the early 1900s jacket crowns were also introduced but failed to gain popularity.

What are the benefits of Metal Dental Crowns

1. Strong:

They are very strong, have high flexural strength and can resist very high and rough chewing forces even the night clenching. This is the reason they don't get fractured easily.

2. Durable:

They last a long time without getting worn down or chipped.

3. Easy to maintain:

Metal crowns have a shiny surface which keeps stains, debris and scratches at bay. They are easy to clean and maintain.

4. Minimal Tooth Preparation:

Metal crowns have thin borders and margins. So, in a way they save the tooth structure from getting trimmed. This conservative nature is highly appreciated.

5. Safe:

Metals like gold and palladium are safe and don’t cause allergies, but some mixed metal dental crowns might cause problems.

In summary, while metal crowns are less popular now, they still have some important benefits!

Type of metal crowns

The type of metal crowns varies according to its usage, indications, & patient.

According to the material;

Only metal crowns: These metal crown tooth caps are made of only metal alloys like gold, nickel, palladium or combined metal alloys.

Porcelain fused to metal: In this type of metal ceramic crown, on the outer side of metal crown tooth shaded porcelain is attached or fused. Metal-ceramic crown is made ato obtain a better appearance at an affordable price. On the cons side, with time the porcelain is damaged, and the inner layer of metal is exposed leaving a black line over gingiva.

PFMs are the most popular crowns because they are aesthetic and also affordable.

According to Age

In children: Usually, children are prescribed to go for metal crowns or premade metal teeth caps because they are thin, ready to restore, and do not need tooth preparation.

In adults: there are some cases where metal crowns are suggested like;

• Extensive damage to teeth
• Where aesthetics is not a concern for the patient like in molars
• The patient doesn’t want to spend much on ceramic crowns

Disadvantages of Metal Crown

These crowns are not that good when speaking about aesthetics, let’s discuss some more challenges that may come over with time.

• Leaching ions: Metal alloys leach out ions that may cause allergies and tissue discoloration.
• Interference: Metal crowns may interfere with MRI or XRAYs and even security scannings.
• Wear on the opposite teeth: Metal crowns may pose extra force on the opposite tooth causing it to wear down.

What is the best replacement for the metal crown?

Metal crowns or metal teeth caps are not tooth colored and thus their replacement has to be aesthetic.

Metal ceramic crowns or ceramic crown are the ones that are trending currently. Let's discuss the characteristics of metal vs ceramic crowns and know all the necessary aspects about why you need to upgrade your metal crown!

Metal vs Ceramic Crown

In a nutshell

Metal crowns were a great choice 20 years ago, but with new technology, it’s better to switch to zirconia crowns. Zirconia crowns not only look nice but also work well for your teeth. They are strong, good-looking, and last a long time. If you want a smile that looks good and feels confident, ask your dentist about Illusion Zirconia Dental Crowns.