Does it surprise you to hear a holistic dentist with more than 25 years experience tell you to avoid dental crowns and caps? After all, caps and dentists go together like salt and pepper. Dental crowns are put on a pedestal as being the most permanent of all dental restorations. So why am I telling you to never let a dentist cap your tooth?
Most adults are familiar with the following scenario:
* You develop a cavity
* The dentist restores the decay with a filling รข€¦ dental amalgam or composite
* After a while the restoration fails or the tooth fractures
* A crown (ceramic, gold or ceramic fused to metal) will finally be installed
* Many times, the tooth nerve dies shortly after the crown is placed
* Dead nerves cause pain an need to be treated by means of a root canal procedure or an extraction
The tooth nerve often dies as a consequence of the traumatic and aggressive crown procedure. Crowning involves grinding away all of the tooth's enamel and a substantial amount of the inner, living dentin. The scientific literature reveals that up to 15% of all crowned teeth will eventually need root canals or extractions because of a dead nerve. If you're lucky enough to dodge the root canal / extraction bullet, you may think you've won the battle.
Even though caps are usually called "permanent", they don't last for ever. In reality, the normal life-span of a crown is actually around 10 years. Just about all insurance plans will pay for a new cap if it fails after only 5 years. Most dental consumers don't understand how a crown can decay ... how does something composed of ceramic or metal get a cavity? No one wants to fork out another considerable chunk of money to re-fix a tooth that they believed had been restored in a permanent way.
When trying to explain the reasons why your tooth has to be fixed again, your dentist may perhaps express things like: "nothing will last forever" or "the oral cavity is a really hostile environment". He / She may even pass the blame over to you by implying that substandard oral hygiene and bacterial plaque at the gum line was the reason the crown has failed. The only problem with this conclusion is this: assuming lousy oral hygiene was to blame, every one of your teeth should be decayed ... not just the single crowned tooth.
Is it just me or is does this story seem full of holes? I'll spare you from the technical mumbo gumbo, but in reality crowns are destined to fail over time. Under normal biting pressure, natural teeth bend and flex ... crowns, made from rigid materials such as ceramic and metal, don't flex like a tooth. So, every occasion you bite your teeth together, the tooth attempts to flex along the gum line, but it's restrained because of the circular encasing effect of the cap.
So each time you chew, the ensuing tug-of-war generates tension and strain at the gum-line, causing the seal between the tooth and cap to weaken. In the absence of a proper seal, harmful bacteria can get in between the tooth and crown--causing decay. The dentist will likely refer to this as a leaking crown. You call it a total bummer!
There's a small division of dental art known as biomimetic dentistry that recognizes and tackles the issue of crown leakage. To start with, biomimetic practitioners rarely if ever install crowns on teeth. Second of all, these dentists never place unbending, inflexible materials at the gum-line when rebuilding your teeth. By simply restoring your teeth with techniques that mimic nature, leaking crowns and "surprise root canal treatments" are generally prevented.
Biomimetic dental treatments are perfect substitutes to capped teeth, simulate the un-restored teeth during function, provide very long-lasting dental restorations and also radically lessen the need for root canals.
Most adults are familiar with the following scenario:
* You develop a cavity
* The dentist restores the decay with a filling รข€¦ dental amalgam or composite
* After a while the restoration fails or the tooth fractures
* A crown (ceramic, gold or ceramic fused to metal) will finally be installed
* Many times, the tooth nerve dies shortly after the crown is placed
* Dead nerves cause pain an need to be treated by means of a root canal procedure or an extraction
The tooth nerve often dies as a consequence of the traumatic and aggressive crown procedure. Crowning involves grinding away all of the tooth's enamel and a substantial amount of the inner, living dentin. The scientific literature reveals that up to 15% of all crowned teeth will eventually need root canals or extractions because of a dead nerve. If you're lucky enough to dodge the root canal / extraction bullet, you may think you've won the battle.
Even though caps are usually called "permanent", they don't last for ever. In reality, the normal life-span of a crown is actually around 10 years. Just about all insurance plans will pay for a new cap if it fails after only 5 years. Most dental consumers don't understand how a crown can decay ... how does something composed of ceramic or metal get a cavity? No one wants to fork out another considerable chunk of money to re-fix a tooth that they believed had been restored in a permanent way.
When trying to explain the reasons why your tooth has to be fixed again, your dentist may perhaps express things like: "nothing will last forever" or "the oral cavity is a really hostile environment". He / She may even pass the blame over to you by implying that substandard oral hygiene and bacterial plaque at the gum line was the reason the crown has failed. The only problem with this conclusion is this: assuming lousy oral hygiene was to blame, every one of your teeth should be decayed ... not just the single crowned tooth.
Is it just me or is does this story seem full of holes? I'll spare you from the technical mumbo gumbo, but in reality crowns are destined to fail over time. Under normal biting pressure, natural teeth bend and flex ... crowns, made from rigid materials such as ceramic and metal, don't flex like a tooth. So, every occasion you bite your teeth together, the tooth attempts to flex along the gum line, but it's restrained because of the circular encasing effect of the cap.
So each time you chew, the ensuing tug-of-war generates tension and strain at the gum-line, causing the seal between the tooth and cap to weaken. In the absence of a proper seal, harmful bacteria can get in between the tooth and crown--causing decay. The dentist will likely refer to this as a leaking crown. You call it a total bummer!
There's a small division of dental art known as biomimetic dentistry that recognizes and tackles the issue of crown leakage. To start with, biomimetic practitioners rarely if ever install crowns on teeth. Second of all, these dentists never place unbending, inflexible materials at the gum-line when rebuilding your teeth. By simply restoring your teeth with techniques that mimic nature, leaking crowns and "surprise root canal treatments" are generally prevented.
Biomimetic dental treatments are perfect substitutes to capped teeth, simulate the un-restored teeth during function, provide very long-lasting dental restorations and also radically lessen the need for root canals.
About the Author:
Curt Eastin DDS, ND is a holistic dentist and a naturopathic physician. He earned his doctorates at the University of Washington School of Dentistry and the National College of Naturopathic Medicine. His dental website is a rich resource for holistic dentistry.
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