A dental crown is a dental restoration that fits over a natural tooth, providing structural reinforcement while correcting and protecting against damage and wear. Many dentists use crowns to cover teeth that are significantly damaged or discolored, or as a method of supporting or restructuring teeth that are weak, eroded, broken, or misshapen. Dental crowns can be made from a few different materials. The most common choices are ceramic and porcelain, as these lustrous materials closely resemble natural teeth in luster and hue, which makes them aesthetically ideal materials for building dental restorations especially toward the front of the mouth. More recently, many dentists have started offering dental crowns made of zirconia, which have some benefits and drawbacks of their own when compared with porcelain crowns.
Zirconia is actually a type of ceramic, like porcelain, that is exceedingly durable. One of the greatest advantages of zirconia crowns is their strength and durability, which can help make them a good option for dental crowns that are placed near the back of the mouth, where the teeth sustain the majority of the forces of chewing and biting. While there isn’t a huge amount of clinical research assessing the long-term success of zirconia crowns, which are still relatively new, studies have also indicated that zirconia crowns match metal-based crowns in durability when assessed over a 5-year term. Zirconia is also highly biocompatible, meaning it’s unlikely to prompt a reaction from the immune system; other materials can induce inflammatory reactions and might ultimately be rejected from the body. In many cases, zirconia crowns can also be made at a dentist’s office and bonded into place in a single visit, while other types of crowns are made in a lab and placed in a separate visit.
While zirconia has some clear benefits, it’s not without its drawbacks. The opaque appearance of zirconia crowns can make them look artificial, lacking the translucence of natural teeth and of porcelain crowns. It’s also possible that the rigidity of zirconia can adversely affect the neighboring teeth, exposing them to expressive wear, though this effect hasn’t been studied sufficiently to confirm. Some dentists choose to use a zirconia crown that’s overlaid with porcelain, in an attempt to recreate the natural luminosity of a tooth; while this offers a more-natural appearance, these types of crowns may be more likely to chip, split, or separate into distinct layers. Zirconia crowns usually range in price from $1,000 to $3,000 per crown.
Porcelain crowns are highly durable and long-lasting, and their natural, lustrous appearance helps make them the ideal choice for restoring the front teeth, especially. Some types of porcelain crowns rely on a metal base to support the porcelain and strengthen the crown, while other types are made entirely of ceramic material. Each of these has its own benefits and drawbacks, especially when considering aesthetics and durability, and the best type of crown for each patient should factor in these considerations along with clinical needs and cost. Crowns made of porcelain fused to a metal core are highly durable, though the metal may become visible and affect the appearance of the crown, while wholly ceramic crowns are more aesthetically appealing but slightly less durable. Porcelain crowns with metal cores average around $1,250 per restoration, while ceramic crowns tend to cost around $700 per crown. While they may be less durable, their superior appearance makes them an appealing, affordable choice for many patients.
