 Let's talk about dental crowns. Why you might need one and what is actually a dental crown? What does it look like? You might have no idea and you have a lot of questions. So let me help you guys. I'm going to show you a couple of different slides here. So this is what a crown actually is. It's made in the lab and it's meant to fit over your existing tooth to basically cover up your existing tooth. The tooth is still there but it could be a lot weaker due to a cavity. It could be you have a silver or a white filling currently placed in it that is too large or it needs to be repaired but to repair it, it's beyond repair in such a way where we can't just put in another silver filling. We can't just put in another white filling. A crown over top of the whole thing is better for the tooth. So this is what it looks like and it goes right over your existing tooth. You might be wondering, well, why is my existing tooth so small looking? Well, we do have to shave around the existing tooth. It's about a millimeter so that the crown can fit over top of it. And then these are what the crowns actually look like. So crowns can either be the same color as your tooth, they can be silver or they can be a gold crown. Typically people these days do choose a tooth colored crown but you can have whatever you want. A metal crown is stronger than a tooth colored crown because a tooth colored crown is typically porcelain but you can have metal as well underneath a porcelain. So your dentist can explain all of the options to you. It depends on which tooth they're going to work on and that will depend on what crown is best for you. So I can't tell you without actually seeing it but you do know now you have different options but this is what a crown looks like. So let me show you in the next slide here. So why would you need a crown? So you would need a crown if you have a very large silver filling or a very large white one or you are getting a root canal, either the tooth you have now, there's a big chip in it or it's just weak due to a crack. There are many different reasons but I would say the more common one is if you have a large cavity, you have a large silver filling or white filling currently in there or your tooth has chipped or cracked. So just to show you guys an example here, notice how this tooth, the upper left, is very large. The tooth is large but the silver filling is covering most of the tooth. So your natural tooth, there's not a lot left. Let's say this filling has been in there for 20 years and it's time to have it redone. Well, in order to redo a filling, you have to take out the entire thing in most cases. Imagine if we take that filling out, there's not a lot of natural tooth structure left. It's better to put a crown over top of the whole thing to protect that tooth. They could take out this entire filling and then redo it again. But anytime we redo a filling, we take out the existing filling and then we have to take out a little bit more of the natural tooth so that the filling we're putting in is nice and strong. So in this case, without knowing the patient, of course, I would suggest getting a crown over top instead. It's a lot less wear and tear on the tooth and it's going to protect the tooth. In some cases, it could last for a lifetime depending on your current habits. And then just showing you guys in these areas here. So this is a very small silver filling. So they have, what they've done here is they've taken out the silver filling and put in a composite filling. So a composite filling is tooth colored. If your filling is this small, I mean, it is considered a moderate size because it's two surfaces. It's on the occlusal surface we call it and it's interproximal, so in between. But that's very small compared to this one. This tooth, this filling, a crown wouldn't be recommended because that filling is going to be strong enough. But this one, a crown will definitely be recommended. Do you guys see the difference there? So when I see patients, if they're asking me, how does my tooth look? How does the silver filling or the white filling look in my tooth? Is it still okay? I'm going to look at these things. But also notice how this filling doesn't look as nice as this one. This one is larger plus a lot older, but also notice around the filling it's starting to get darker. This is an indication that it's time to replace it. But this one looks amazing and it's small enough where they don't need a crown. So let me just show you guys the next slide here. Oh shoot, maybe I didn't have a next one. What I wanted to show you guys was the difference between a smaller filling and a larger one. But I guess this is kind of showing it too so you don't have to worry too much. But if you guys have any questions about that, please let me know. In a nutshell, if the dentist tells you you need a crown, it's likely due to you have a root canal, you have a very large silver filling or a white filling currently in place, or you have a chipped tooth. Because if you have a chipped tooth, then you are going to need to fix that chipped tooth either with a filling or a crown. If the dentist tells you you need a root canal and you have the root canal done, you could just put a filling over top of a root canal. But I usually, like 99% of the time, I'm going to recommend a crown over the whole tooth after you have the root canal done. Because what a root canal does is it makes the tooth a lot weaker. So if you have a crown over top, then your tooth is as strong as possible and it can last a lifetime if you take care of it. So those are the different reasons why you would need a crown. But comment below if you guys have any questions and thank you so much for watching. 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