Here’s An Opinion On:
Submitted by: Curt Eastin, DDS, ND
I’ve been a dentist since 1984 and a holistic dentist since 1998, so you may be surprised to hear me say that I hate dental crowns and avoid them like the plague. After all, crowns are the preferred treatment choice for most dentists. Dental crowns are put on a pedestal as being the most permanent of all dental restorations. So what gives … why am I saying that caps are no good?
The following scenario may have happened to many of you:
* You get decay in your tooth
* Your friendly dentist repairs the hole with a filling amalgam or possibly composite
* Over time the repair fails or perhaps the tooth splits
* Your tooth will finally be repaired with a crown ceramic, metal or porcelain fused to metal
* The procedure of crowning your tooth kills the tooth’s nerve
* Dead nerves hurt and need to be managed by having either a root canal procedure or an extraction
The crown procedure is very traumatic and often kills the tooth nerve. To prepare a tooth to receive a crown, all of the enamel and a substantial amount of the inner core dentin must be ground away. The scientific literature reveals that up to 15% of all crowned teeth will eventually need root canals or extractions because of a dead nerve. If you have a crown and did not need a root canal or an extraction, your troubles are not quite over yet.
Most people assume that once you have a crown, that tooth will never need to be treated again. After all, you just shelled out a lot of money because you a crown is supposed to be the most definitive way to fix a broken down tooth. You forget all about the tooth for 5 to 10 years, then out of the blue your dentist tells you that you have developed decay under the crown and it will have to be replaced. You’re confused. You have questions: What do you mean the crown is bad? How can a crown decay? Wasn’t the crown supposed to be the permanent solution for this tooth? Most consumers are under the impression that once a tooth is capped, that tooth will never need care ever again. The dentist discussed the options for caring for the broken down tooth and presented a cap as the best permanent solution. And so they are stunned when a number of years in the future they find out the cap has gone bad and requires replacement. Whenever a crown has gone bad, it indicates that tooth decay has developed in the gap between the tooth and the crown. About now most consumers are confused … how does a crown develop a cavity?
The dentist could give you a vague explanation or might even try to pass the buck–making it seem like its kind of your fault. They might possibly state something similar to well, all that bacterial plaque buildup around your gum-line resulted in a cavity in the tooth root that eventually got underneath the crown. Perhaps you are asking yourself, how can I only have gum-line plaque around the capped tooth? And if my plaque is responsible for the tooth decay, why aren’t my other teeth decayed as well?
Common sense would tell you that something is wrong with this story. I won’t bore you with all the technical jargon, but the truth is that all crowns will fail in time. When put in the normal pressures of chewing and biting, natural teeth flex … however, crowns made from gold or porcelain do not. Consequently, each and every occasion you close your teeth together, your tooth attempts to flex along the gum line, but it’s restrained by the circular encasing effect of the crown.
So now it is possible to put the information together and describe exactly why a number of caps break down. Anytime the teeth come together (many, many times every day), your tooth and the crown both are after something different. Your tooth needs to flex, the cap doesn’t. This struggle of rival forces creates strain at the gum line that ultimately destroys the seal in between your crown and the tooth. As soon as the seal pops and the cap begins to leak, harmful bacteria dash in to the space and a cavity forms.
The approach would be to avoid putting stiff, inflexible dental materials at the gum-line that is, do not place crowns on teeth. The theory of study commonly known as biomimetic dentistry strives to rebuild teeth in ways that mimic natural teeth. By avoiding capped teeth and placing products that bend like natural teeth at the gum line, the issue of leaky caps as well as the need to have root canal therapy following dental restorations are typically avoided.
Biomimetic dental methods are excellent substitutes to crowns, duplicate the un-restored tooth under function, offer very long-lasting dental corrections and significantly lessen the requirement for root canal treatment.
About the Author: Curt Eastin DDS, ND is a
holistic dentist
and a naturopathic physician. He earned his doctorates at the University of Washington School of Dentistry and the National College of Naturopathic Medicine. Click the following link for more information about
ultra-conservative biomimetic dentistry
.
Source:
isnare.com
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