Crown & Bridge

A crown is utilized to restore a single tooth that is effected by disease, has chipped enamel, cracks, or a large, old filling that is failing.  Traditional crowns can also be refered to as a PFM, porcelain fused to metal.
When Dr. Gibson recommends that a tooth be restored with a PFM, a traditional restorative procedure is done.  The tooth is reduced to a peg like size allowing room for the porcelain in the mouth.  Once the final reduction is done, a rubber base impression is taken to send to the lab.  It will take 2-3 weeks to get the final porcelain restoration back.  In the mean time, your tooth is covered by an acrylic temporary to keep you comfortable.  When the porcelain is returned from the lab, the crown is fitted to the tooth and permanently cemented.

A bridge can be used to restore more than one tooth.  When a tooth is missing, teeth start shifting.  The adjacent teeth shift forward or backward to close the space, the teeth above or below the space move up or down to compensate.  Not only do other teeth shift, but bone loss can become a problem as well.  When teeth are missing, it is important for the health of the mouth to have the space filled.
A bridge may be a restoration that is recommended to fill this space.  The teeth on either side of the missing tooth, will be reduced down in size to allow a span of porcelain to be anchored to.  This span of porcelain will be cemented to each tooth on either side of the space while the space is filled with a tooth shaped piece of porcelain in the middle of the span of the "bridge".

                 Crowns Before                                                     Crowns After