Restorations may be required following treatment of severe decay, or after accidental tooth loss or damage. As the word implies, the goal is to restore your mouth to its full functionality – but the bespoke nature of dental restorations, which are made in-house using our CEREC machine, means that they have excellent aesthetic benefits too, and can often result in giving you the smile you’ve always wanted.
When teeth are badly decayed, weak or broken through injury, a crown may be required to restore lost tooth tissue, or to protect what remains. Custom-made on the same day using our CEREC machine, a crown is bonded over the top of the existing tooth, bringing it back to full function.
Crowns are often the next course of action when filling is no longer effective, or after root-canal treatment, which leaves teeth weakened and brittle.
Dentists have been using crowns to strengthen or rebuild teeth for a long time – but it’s only in recent years that crowns have become as renowned for their look as for their function. While ‘old-school’ crowns were made of metal or gold, today’s advanced materials allow for completely lifelike, tooth-coloured and metal-free restorations, made to match your exact requirements for shape, shade, texture and translucency.
A traditional solution to large gaps and multiple missing teeth, a dental bridge is a prosthetic fitting secured at each end by a crown. Even if your missing teeth are causing no discomfort, dental bridges are recommended for preventing potential future problems. These include bite distortion, caused by your remaining teeth shifting to fill the gap, and vulnerability to gum disease and jaw pain. Like crowns, bridges are usually created from porcelain or precious metal and are an excellent fixed alternative to dentures.
A crown is a single-tooth restoration that caps your existing tooth. A bridge replaces one or more adjacent missing teeth with a prosthetic that literally bridges the gap, held in place at each end by a crown.
Before your custom restoration is made, your dentist will prepare your tooth by filing it down into a smooth shape that correctly accommodates the restoration. Digital impressions will then be taken and sent to the CEREC machine, which will mill your restoration while you wait. When it is ready, your crown or bridge is cemented in place and cured under a special light.
With good oral hygiene and regular dental check-ups, your restoration could last as long as 20 years.
