Royal Expectations: Preparing Teeth for Dental Crowns

Many people experience anxiety around dental appointments, especially if they’re having a more involved procedure, like placing a dental crown. However, if you have a severely decayed or damaged tooth requiring treatment or recently had a root canal, it’s an ideal way to prevent further harm. Not only that, but it’s customized to match your smile to restore its appearance and functionality.

If you’re feeling afraid, understanding more about what happens during your appointment can soothe your nerves. Continue reading to learn 3 things you can expect when being fitted for a dental crown!

Step #1: Examination & Numbing

First, your dental team will examine your teeth and gums to ensure that no pre-existing problems, like gum disease, interfere with the results. Then, they’ll provide a local anesthetic to keep the nerves in your teeth, gums, and jaw from sending pain signals to your brain.

If they haven’t already, they’ll clear away any decayed or damaged enamel once the area has lost sensation, and disinfect your troublesome tooth to avoid trapping bacteria beneath your restoration.

Step #2: Tooth Preparation

For your new tooth to fit correctly, they must then remove a small amount of enamel. This involves using special dental instruments to gently and carefully shave away some of the protective outer layer to make the underlying pearly white smaller and smoother to serve as an abutment for your restoration.

In some cases, a severely broken-down tooth may need to be built up with composite resin before proceeding. Ensuring it has just-the-right dimensions is imperative because if it’s not correct, you might develop a bite misalignment or associated TMJ (temporomandibular joint) pain or stiffness. s

Step #3: Making Impressions

Once your pearly white is prepared, your dentist will make impressions and take images or scans of your teeth and gums either manually or digitally. This information will be sent to a special dental laboratory to begin creating your one-of-a-kind dental crown made to your unique specifications.  

Step #4: Temporary Crown Placement

It can take the lab a couple of weeks to send the finished restoration to your dentist to cement it over your damaged tooth, and your pearly white is somewhat vulnerable to additional damage or decay in the meantime. As a result, your dentist will likely provide a temporary dental crown that’s only meant to last a short period of time. It likely won’t fit as well, be as resilient, or look as lifelike as the final product, but it can safeguard your smile until it arrives.

Thankfully, cementing the permanent crown in place is usually so straightforward that your dentist might not even need to numb the area first!

Meet the Author

Dr. Jason Kaopua has 20 years of experience helping families build and maintain beautiful, healthy smiles. He earned his dental doctorate at Oregon Health & Sciences University, and has completed advanced training on various topics like BOTOX, sleep apnea, dental implants, Invisalign, and more. Today, he proudly offers a comprehensive menu of services to people of all ages to meet all your needs under one roof. Then, he combines a caring approach with state-of-the-art equipment to improve patient comfort while delivering accurate treatment results, including lifelike dental crowns. You can request an appointment on the website or call (425) 267-3333.