|
Question:
Porcelain Crown more abrasive than Gold? I have read that porcelain is much more abrasive to other nearby teeth than gold is?
Currently I only have one gold crown and a porcelain crown side-by-side and I hate the latter. The gum is often sensitive and I finally got a water pik MAINLY because of that tooth (flossing wasn't helping much). Its my 'special needs' tooth.
It has been done FOUR times since 1992/3. I have seen some gold crowns that appear to be GOLD on the biting surface and white on the 'smile' surface. Is that a common procedure? ...Visitor from TX
Answer:
You are correct that porcelain can be more abrasive than gold, although properly polished porcelain is OK.
Yes, you can have gold crowns that are gold on the biting surface and white on the smile side. Some dentists are not fond of them because they seem to have the porcelain fracture more often than crowns with porcelain over the entire surface.
I would guess that your porcelain crown next to the gold one is actually a metal crown with porcelain over it. All gold crowns and all gold crowns covered with porcelain are not equal.
You can have different gold contents in the metal, along with other metals. Gold crowns have gold, planinum, palladium (noble metals) and silver, copper, and tin (base metals).
In order to be termed a high noble crown, a metal crown or porcelain covered metal crown must have 75% noble metal. When gold prices are high, dentists tend to use less noble metal content to keep lab fees lower.
I suspect that your porcelain crowns have probably been lower gold content crowns with some tin in them. Many people are allergic to tin (do you get a rash is you wear inexpensive gold jewelry? If so, you may have an allergy to tin).
People who have metal allergies do well with high noble gold crowns. There is also a material called Captek that not only does well with people with allergies, but it repels plaque and helps with the health of the gum tissues. Captek is 22K gold, and contains only gold, platinum, and palladium.
It is then covered with porcelain and looks very nice. You can also have a metal crown covered with porcelain with a 360 degree porcelain margin (where the crown meets the tooth next to the gum). This provides the strength of metal and no place for metal to touch the tissue if you are allergic.
High noble metal crowns, then, are an excellent choice. Other choices might include Cercon and Lava because they are strong and have no metal that could cause a reaction. I really think that you have a great high noble crown on the one tooth and a porcelain crown with less noble metal on the next and that is the cause of your "special needs" tooth.
I will warn you that a tooth that has had 4 crown preparations already may not have much tooth left to redo the crown again. Be careful.
Corinne Scalzitti, DMD, MAGD
Austin Reconstructive Implant Dentistry
3900 RR 620 South
Austin, Texas TX 78738
(512) 263-3330
Return to Crowns - Part F FAQ
| Metropolitan Area Crown Doctors: |
|
Return to FAQ Index
You also have the option of using Google search technology to conduct a specific search within our databases to find more specific information. Use key words or short phrases:
|
|
