6 Tip to Making Dental Crowns Last Longer
Crowns offer an excellent solution for protecting and restoring damaged teeth. However, while dental crowns are made from incredibly strong ceramic, just like your natural teeth, they aren’t invincible. To make sure your crowns stand the test of time, you’re going to need to take care of them. Here are six steps you can take to ensure your crowns keep shining for years to come.
1. Don’t Bite or Chew Non-Foods
While your teeth and any crowns you’ve had fitted are perfectly suited for chewing food, they aren’t so good at chewing other things. It may seem obvious, but it’s surprising how many people find themselves chewing on non-foods. In fact, it can easily become a habit. Think first before you chew fingernails, pens or pencils, and your crowns will thank you for it. What’s more, you can reduce the risk of developing joint disorders from all that unneeded nibbling.
2. Don’t Use Your Teeth as Tools
If you’ve ever struggled to open a package or bottle, turning to your teeth for help can be a recipe for disaster. Just as crowns aren’t designed for chewing non-foods, neither are they designed as tools. Our ancestors may have used them as a vice to grip objects, but today we’ve developed actual tools for those jobs. If you haven’t got the right tool to hand, take a trip to a DIY store and give your teeth a break; you’ll save a lot of money, not to mention discomfort, in the long run.
3. Use a Mouthguard for Sports
Contact sports can be very bad news for our teeth and crowns are no different. Your teeth can hit one another or they can come into accidental contact with balls, bats or sticks. If you play a contact sport like football or hockey or practice martial arts, think about your teeth and your crowns. A simple mouthguard can protect them and should always be used for high-risk sports.
4. Practice Excellent Oral Hygiene
While you can cause your dental crown to break if you use it in the wrong way, it is much more likely to fail due to problems with the underlying tooth. This is why oral hygiene is so important. Your crown will cover the entire surface of your tooth; however, there is still a chance that you can get a cavity under it if you don’t brush and floss your teeth effectively. What’s more, poor oral hygiene can cause your gums to recede which will then expose the vulnerable tooth under your crown. Brush your teeth twice a day and floss carefully around your crowns to keep plaque at bay.
5. Don’t Brush Too Hard
It’s vital that you brush your teeth twice a day to keep decay at bay, but brushing too hard can cause problems too. If you overdo it and press too hard with the brush, it can lead to receding gums and allow gum disease to develop. What’s more, if you’re too aggressive, abrasive toothpaste can start to wear away the protective covering on your crowns. It might not make them fail, but they won’t look as shiny and new as they once did.
6. Visit Your Dentist Regularly
If you have bleeding gums, extra sensitivity or toothache, you might realise that there is a problem with your crown. However, by that point, it is often too late. Regular visits to your Woden dentist are vital to keep your oral hygiene in check and to ensure that there are no problems with your gums or teeth. Your dentist will take Xrays to enable them to spot signs of decay well before they are visible with the naked eye.
A dental crown can restore your smile and the functionality of your teeth but, if you want it to last, you need to look after it. After all, to have affordable crowns, you need them to be a permanent fixture. Follow the advice above and, hopefully, you’ll be smiling with confidence for years to come.
