Choosing Porcelain Crowns for the Best Cosmetic Results Porcelain crowns are used to cover a tooth with the intention of strengthening it, but the procedure also makes the tooth more aesthetically pleasing. A porcelain dental crown is usually required when: A cracked or weakened tooth needs protection. A decayed tooth needs to be strengthened. It’s needed to hold a dental bridge in place. An existing filling leaves little of the original tooth. The existing tooth is misshapen. The tooth is badly discoloured. You want to improve the appearance of your teeth. Porcelain Crowns for Children Sometimes a porcelain tooth crown may be used on a child’s baby teeth when a tooth needs to be saved and is too damaged by decay for a conventional filling. It can also be used to protect a child’s teeth when they’re at high risk of dental decay. However, children’s crowns should be made from stainless steel. This is both cheaper and won’t last as long, which is fine because the crown only needs to last as long as the baby teeth do. Naturally, when the baby teeth fall out the crown will come with them. Other Dental Crown Options Porcelain crowns are very common, but dental crowns can be made from a variety of materials including the following: Metals, including gold and platinum alloys Porcelain fused to metal Resin crowns However, out of all these different materials, porcelain crowns give the best cosmetic results. Getting a Porcelain Dental Crown When you get a porcelain dental crown it usually takes just two visits to the dentist. Your dentist must first reshape the affected tooth, either by building it up if the tooth has fractured or decayed, or by putting a filling in to hold the crown. Your dentist will first take an impression of your teeth and send it to the lab to so your porcelain dental crown can be created. They will also fit a temporary crown to the tooth that will last until your next visit. On the return visit, the dentist will remove the temporary crown and check the size, fit, and colour match of the new crown. They will then cement the new porcelain dental crown into position. Porcelain Crown Cost The porcelain crown may not be the cheapest option, but it usually offers better value for money compared to those made with other materials. Other types of crowns can fracture, wear down, or just don’t look as real as a porcelain crown. And these are all important considerations. Ultimately, the porcelain crown price depends on which tooth or teeth you need to have crowned. If you’re having your front teeth crowned, the porcelain crowns cost for front teeth is likely to be well worth the price. These teeth are on display all the time, so the crown needs to match the colour of the surrounding teeth as closely as possible. And this is something that is almost impossible to do with other dental crown materials. But if you need a crown for your back teeth, the appearance may not be as important and other materials might do just as well depending on how visible the area is when you talk or smile.