Does it surprise you to hear a holistic dentist with more than 25 years experience tell you to avoid dental crowns and caps? After all, most dentists love to cap teeth. Capped teeth are believed by most to be the ultimate dental restoration. So how could a dentist be telling you to avoid caps and crowns?
Most adults are familiar with the following scenario:
* You get a cavity in a tooth
* The dentist restores the decay with a filling รข€¦ dental amalgam or composite
* Down the road the restoration fails or maybe the tooth breaks
* A cap (ceramic, metal or maybe porcelain fused to metal) is now installed
* Many times, the tooth nerve dies shortly after the crown is placed
* A dead nerve causes pain and then you must have a root canal or an extraction
The procedure to crown a tooth is very aggressive and may kill the tooth's nerve. Crowning involves grinding away all of the tooth's enamel and a substantial amount of the inner, living dentin. The scientific literature reveals that up to 15% of all crowned teeth will eventually need root canals or extractions because of a dead nerve. Just because your crowned tooth did not need an extraction or root canal does not mean you're free and clear of future problems.
Although crowns are often called "permanent", they won't last for ever. In fact, the average life expectancy of a cap is actually about 10 years. Just about all insurance plans will pay to replace a new crown when it fails after only five years. Most dental clients don't understand how the cap can decay ... how can an object made of ceramic or metal develop a cavity? Nobody wants to invest another considerable chunk of cash to re-fix a tooth they assumed had been fixed in a permanent way.
When trying to explain the reasons why your tooth has to be fixed again, your dentist may perhaps express things like: "nothing will last forever" or "the oral cavity is a really hostile environment". He / She may even pass the blame over to you by implying that substandard oral hygiene and bacterial plaque at the gum line was the reason the crown has failed. The only problem with this conclusion is this: assuming lousy oral hygiene was to blame, every one of your teeth should be decayed ... not just the single crowned tooth.
If you are a thinking person, the warning flags should be soaring about now ... this story does not entirely seem sensible. The key reason crowns fail after some time is because of a critical engineering mistake. Caps are made of materials that happen to be quite rigid ... porcelain, gold or porcelain fused to gold. Surprisingly, your teeth are actually very flexible. There' re intended to bend at the gum line under biting forces.
Now for the exact reason you need a replacement crown. Each time you bite your teeth together, a battle occurs between your bendable tooth and the unbending cap. This will cause strain to occur and your gum-line that finally "pops the seal" between your tooth and the cap. The defective seal lets harmful bacteria to invade the open space underneath the crown and eventually a cavity develops. In dentistry we call this bacterial attack "crown leakage" ... you will have a different way to describe it!
There's a small division of dental art known as biomimetic dentistry that recognizes and tackles the issue of crown leakage. To start with, biomimetic practitioners rarely if ever install crowns on teeth. Second of all, these dentists never place unbending, inflexible materials at the gum-line when rebuilding your teeth. By simply restoring your teeth with techniques that mimic nature, leaking crowns and "surprise root canal treatments" are generally prevented.
Biomimetic dental procedures are perfect alternatives to caps, mimic the un-restored teeth under function, provide very long-lasting dental treatments and significantly lessen the need for root canal treatment.
Most adults are familiar with the following scenario:
* You get a cavity in a tooth
* The dentist restores the decay with a filling รข€¦ dental amalgam or composite
* Down the road the restoration fails or maybe the tooth breaks
* A cap (ceramic, metal or maybe porcelain fused to metal) is now installed
* Many times, the tooth nerve dies shortly after the crown is placed
* A dead nerve causes pain and then you must have a root canal or an extraction
The procedure to crown a tooth is very aggressive and may kill the tooth's nerve. Crowning involves grinding away all of the tooth's enamel and a substantial amount of the inner, living dentin. The scientific literature reveals that up to 15% of all crowned teeth will eventually need root canals or extractions because of a dead nerve. Just because your crowned tooth did not need an extraction or root canal does not mean you're free and clear of future problems.
Although crowns are often called "permanent", they won't last for ever. In fact, the average life expectancy of a cap is actually about 10 years. Just about all insurance plans will pay to replace a new crown when it fails after only five years. Most dental clients don't understand how the cap can decay ... how can an object made of ceramic or metal develop a cavity? Nobody wants to invest another considerable chunk of cash to re-fix a tooth they assumed had been fixed in a permanent way.
When trying to explain the reasons why your tooth has to be fixed again, your dentist may perhaps express things like: "nothing will last forever" or "the oral cavity is a really hostile environment". He / She may even pass the blame over to you by implying that substandard oral hygiene and bacterial plaque at the gum line was the reason the crown has failed. The only problem with this conclusion is this: assuming lousy oral hygiene was to blame, every one of your teeth should be decayed ... not just the single crowned tooth.
If you are a thinking person, the warning flags should be soaring about now ... this story does not entirely seem sensible. The key reason crowns fail after some time is because of a critical engineering mistake. Caps are made of materials that happen to be quite rigid ... porcelain, gold or porcelain fused to gold. Surprisingly, your teeth are actually very flexible. There' re intended to bend at the gum line under biting forces.
Now for the exact reason you need a replacement crown. Each time you bite your teeth together, a battle occurs between your bendable tooth and the unbending cap. This will cause strain to occur and your gum-line that finally "pops the seal" between your tooth and the cap. The defective seal lets harmful bacteria to invade the open space underneath the crown and eventually a cavity develops. In dentistry we call this bacterial attack "crown leakage" ... you will have a different way to describe it!
There's a small division of dental art known as biomimetic dentistry that recognizes and tackles the issue of crown leakage. To start with, biomimetic practitioners rarely if ever install crowns on teeth. Second of all, these dentists never place unbending, inflexible materials at the gum-line when rebuilding your teeth. By simply restoring your teeth with techniques that mimic nature, leaking crowns and "surprise root canal treatments" are generally prevented.
Biomimetic dental procedures are perfect alternatives to caps, mimic the un-restored teeth under function, provide very long-lasting dental treatments and significantly lessen the need for root canal treatment.
About the Author:
Curt Eastin DDS, ND is a holistic dentist and a naturopathic physician. He earned his doctorates at the University of Washington School of Dentistry and the National College of Naturopathic Medicine. His dental website is a rich resource for holistic dentistry.
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