At Best Smiles Dental, Dr. Reddy and our trained staff of dental professionals are proud to provide the very latest dental technology to our Hutto, TX, area patients. Much of that technology is specifically designed to repair badly damaged teeth and/or to replace missing teeth. Two excellent ways of accomplishing those goals are with dental crowns and bridges. These two types of restorations are closely related since bridges are actually made up of one or more crowns. But let’s begin by describing each one.

What Is a Dental Crown?

Unlike dental fillings, onlays, and inlays, dental crowns are restorations that cover the entire tooth surface, right down to the gum line. Although crowns can be made of metal, they are most often made from a strong dental porcelain material that can be perfectly matched to the shade of the patient’s natural teeth. These restorations are very durable and typically last for many, many years. Dr. Reddy often recommends a crown when a tooth is so badly damaged that it can’t be repaired with a filling, onlay, or inlay. Crowns may be used to protect a tooth that has undergone a root canal. Crowns are also used in dental bridges.

What Is a Dental Bridge?

If you are missing one or more teeth, Dr. Reddy recommends that you replace those teeth with some type of dental appliance. If you don’t, other teeth can shift in place. That can throw your bite off and cause a variety of other dental problems. Fortunately, there are many options for replacing missing teeth. One of the most common methods is with a dental bridge. This appliance is comprised of one or more porcelain crowns mounted onto a frame, which can be made from gold, alloys, porcelain or a combination of these materials. The frame on either side of the crowns fits over the patient’s natural teeth. The porcelain crowns are made to very closely match the shade of the patient’s natural teeth, which allows the bridge to easily blend in with the rest of the patient’s natural teeth.