Procera crown

[Majid]

Hi

I have an old gold crown that has recently come out a few times and my dentist says that I should have a new crown because the old crown does not fit very well anymore.

He has offered to do either a procera crown or another gold crown this time to replace the old crown. I am not keen on another gold crown because the previous crown used to be obvious whenever I smiled.

My dentist said that he could also do a porcelain metal crown but said that procera crowns look better. I would like to know what is a procera crown and how does it differ to a gold crown and porcelain metal crown in terms of looks and strength?

[Dr Vahid Motahar]

Hi,

Thank you for your question.

Procera crown is a full ceramic crown with the core of the crown made from tooth coloured material and then porcelain placed on top of the core. In terms of strength they are very strong as modern advances in dental technology allows for such products to be made and aesthetically they are much more superior to porcelain metal crowns or gold crowns. They are only produced in Sweden.

Porcelain metal crown technology is about 50 years old and it involved having a metal core with porcelain placed on top of it. In terms of aesthetics they are no match for the all ceramic crowns and again they are very strong in terms of strength. However usually a lot more tooth tissue has to be removed for this type of crowns.

Gold is one of the oldest material that is used in dentistry and if you can keep a secret it is one of the best materials even with all the advances in dental technology. One can be very conservative in crown preparations for gold crowns and save as much tooth tissues as is possible. Only two problems with them. One is the colour and the second is that have you had a lot at the gold prices in the recent month!? Gold crowns due to the high cost of the gold these days are quite expensive but the good thing is that if the crowned tooth does not last for ever and one day needed extraction, you can get some of your money back for the crown as the gold in it is valuable!