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Question:
Horizontal ridges on crowns: I recently had crowns done on my front 6 upper teeth.
They seem to have noticeable horizontal ridges which can be felt when I run my tongue or finger over them.
Is this normal or should porcelain fused with metal crowns be smooth? ...Visitor from NC
Answer:
You did not mention where you are feeling the horizontal ridges, but I'll assume you are talking about the gumline where the crowns meet the tooth and gums.
Usually the crown margins or finish line of the preparations are ended just below the gingival or gum margin. If the crowns are finished in this location, the crown/tooth margin is not normally felt. If your crown margins were ended just above the gum, then yes you may feel that ridge you are speaking about.
You state that you had 6 front top teeth restored with 6 porcelain to metal crowns. In our practice, and most cosmetic dental practices, only full porcelain crowns or veneers are placed. The reason is that nothing duplicates the natural appearance of teeth better than full metal-free porcelain crowns and veneers.
Full porcelain crowns reflect light in a natural way, just like real teeth do. If porcelain to metal crowns are placed in the front of the mouth, they usually look a bit opaque, with a dark line visible at the gum line.
Metal is very dark, although some porcelain to metal crowns are made with an alloy of yellow gold,which gives a warmer more natural tone to the crowns. To hide the dark color of silver based metal, an opaque layer of porcelain needs to be baked onto the surface of the metal first to hide the metal.
Then after the opaque layer of porcelain is baked onto the metal,the ceramic artist now blends shades of porcelain over the first layer to try to match the shade you and your dentist had selected.
So you can now understand that full porcelain crowns and veneers can be made much thinner and more translucent like natural teeth.
Porcelain to metal crowns require more tooth reduction in order to make room for the multiple layers of porcelain needed to hide the metal and be able to have several layers of porcelain added on to look natural.
In my opinion it is very rare that a porcelain to metal crown can be fabricated to match a well made full porcelain crown.
ComfortableDental.com
Ron Briglia, DMD
Chester County Medical Building
600 East Marshall Street, Suite 201
West Chester Pennsylvania PA 19380
(610) 692-4440
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