A crown is usually made when your tooth has become too weak or damaged to support a filling, as a result of such things as decay, root canal treatment, broken tooth or injury. From the current research a tooth which has seen to have more than 50 or 60 percent will be better off with a crown. Previously we used to wait until a tooth has multiple attempts of fillings or after root canal treatment before suggest for a crown. However crowning earlier on has proven more effective in the longer term rather than waiting for the tooth base to be weakened from multiple treatments. The dentist will suggest the optimum timing to achieve the best long term outcome.
A crown will restore the function of your tooth so that you will have something strong to chew on, and it will make the tooth much more resistant to fracture.
A crown can also be placed to improve the cosmetic look of your teeth if they are damaged, discoloured or slightly crooked.
Teeth needing to be crowned are usually ‘compromised’ and it is not uncommon for crowned teeth to later need root canal treatment. This occurs in approximately five to ten percent of all crowned teeth. The need for further root canal treatment is due to the dental pulp health and history of deep filling, not because of crown procedure.