When To Get A Dental Crown Instead of a Filling

 

Fillings and dental crowns can accomplish many of the same objectives, but dental crowns in Winnipeg are much more expensive than fillings. Are they worth it? Why wouldn’t you just opt for a filling rather than put yourself to the expense of a crown? This is a question we get quite regularly in one form or another. The answer is that crowns accomplish much more than fillings. Sometimes a filling is enough to do the job, but there are other situations when a filling isn’t up to the task of protecting your tooth and health. We’ll explain below.

Fillings versus crowns

As their name implies, a filling fills a void in your tooth — usually one left behind by tooth decay. Silver and composite fillings do an excellent job of filling cavities, which is why fillings have been used for hundreds of years in one form or another. The larger your cavity is, though, the weaker your tooth is. At a certain point, your tooth will have lost so much material that it will lack the structural integrity or strength to perform its job even after it’s been filled with composite resins or amalgam material. In situations where a filling can not provide the strength, support and structure that your tooth needs to withstand the pressures it experiences in your mouth, the staff at your dental clinic in Winnipeg will recommend you receive a crown.

Getting dental crowns near you isn’t just for filling holes in your teeth. Rather, they surround and encompass your entire tooth from its biting surface to your gum line and 360 degrees around the perimeter of the tooth. The underlying tooth is completely protected from penetration by bacteria and receives the support it needs not to crack or break while you eat, bite and chew.

When to opt for a crown rather than a filling

Beyond the situation of a large cavity that we used as the starting point of this article, there are four situations when a filling is not good enough and when you should opt for a crown. While it might feel like you’re saving some money by going with a filling, you’ll be wasting every dime and setting yourself for more serious tooth issues and expenses (not too far) down the road.

If you’ve undergone root canal treatment, have a crown placed on that tooth — not just a filling. A crown will prevent penetration and reinfection by bacteria and restore strength to the tooth from which infected material was removed.

If you already have a very large filling, and the tooth is decaying further or cracking, get a crown rather than another filling. As that tooth decay progresses and those cracks worsen, your tooth will be at ever greater risk of fracturing — something that your filling won’t be able to prevent.

If your teeth are damaged by clenching your jaw and grinding your teeth, protect them with a crown rather than fillings. Clenching your jaw and grinding your teeth exposes your teeth to far greater sustained pressure than they’re used to when you eat, bite and chew. Fillings will be damaged and break more easily. Crowns will be more likely to sustain those pressures. If you’re in this situation, though, don’t settle for just crowns. They can also be damaged by clenching and grinding. As your dentist to provide you with a night guard to protect your teeth and dental work from damage caused by clenching and grinding as you sleep.

There’s an old saying that doesn’t make a whole lot of obvious sense in a country without pennies and that doesn’t use the pound. It is something about the waste related to being ‘penny wise and pound foolish.’ If the team at a dental clinic near you recommends a crown, don’t try to save pennies by getting a filling instead. You’ll waste all your pennies and have to spend more than you ever would have while paying the price with your oral health at the same time.