What is a dental crown?
A dental crown is a custom made cap specifically designed and manufactured to wrap around your tooth to protect and restore function to the tooth.
There are several reasons as to why we would recommend a dental crown to patients:
- We want want to protect and restore a heavily restored, cracked or damaged tooth
- A dental crown generally follows a root canal treated tooth to ensure we protect the root canal treated tooth
- We can use a dental crown to also change the colour, shape or size of a tooth

There are also a number of different materials that we can use to make the dental crown, each with their advantages and disadvantages. Our dentist will have a thorough discussion to ensure the best material to use to suit both you and your tooth’s needs

What about onlays?
You may also hear our dentist recommend or discuss onlays for restoring and protecting some of your broken down back teeth. An onlay has the same goals as a dental crown, in that we aim to protect and restore a heavily restored, cracked, damaged or root canal treated tooth.

With advances in recent bonding technology, we are able to reduce the amount of tooth removed by only preparing the biting surface of the tooth. This means we only remove half the amount of tooth structure compared to a dental crown but still achieve the same goals as a crown. This ensures that the tooth lasts longer and reduces the risk of the nerve being affected.

What are bridges?
Bridges are a series of joined dental crowns designed to replace missing or lost teeth. The teeth adjacent to the lost tooth are prepared for dental crowns and then “bridged” together to replace the lost tooth.

This is particularly useful for replacing a single missing tooth and having them feel almost like your own natural teeth.


Are you concerned about a cracked or broken down tooth? Do not hesitate to contact us on 9008 6363 to arrange a consultation to discuss your options with one of our friendly dentists.