Can u give me some information about porcelain composite crowns?

Q. Hi I have a composite crown bonded to a metal post that was fitted 20 years ago when I broke my upper front incisor that I would like to replace for cosmetic reasons. Due to my gums receeding a few mm you can now see a line of grey natural tooth around the gum line. I have asked my dentist about the most natural looking replacement and she is very keen to fit another metal/porceline composite crown. I have never been happy with the one I have, it has always been a different size, shape and colour to my other main incisor so I asked about an all porceline crown and she said that her practice fits procera crowns but that because I have a metal post and not a ground down tooth to use as an anchor that an all porceline crown would be too thick and would break. I made it clear that cost was not a consideration but she insisted that a composite crown was my best bet. Apart from the crown my teeth are completely average, they are average size, shape, colour etc. Your opinion would be valued. Thanks

A. There are number of different options for porcelain crowns that can be used for different situations to produce a great result.  Composite crown sould not appear to be the obvious solution unless the prognosis for the tooth was poor – to keep costs down.  They are sometimes used to reduce the bite forces on implants. For a dark post a procera or zirconium or a well made porcelian bonded to metal crown would be my choices. 

Dr Julian Caplan – Director on the board of the BACD View My Profile Dr Caplan

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