Thanks to dentistry enhancement, many different types of dental crowns are available, which are mainly divided into 2 groups depending on material and manufacturing procedure.
Type 1: Full ceramic crowns
- Ceramic-fused-to-Zirconia
- Full Contoured Zirconia
- Pressed ceramic (often used to make dental veneers due to its specific feature)
Full ceramic crowns have highest level of aesthetics compared to all types of material, which resemble natural tooth enamel due to their color and translucence. This feature makes it the best solution to restore front tooth. Besides translucency, compatibility is remarkable strength of full ceramic crown.
Translucency comparison between full ceramic crown (left) and porcelain-fused-to-metal crown (right)
Type 2: Porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns
Porcelain-fused-to-metal restorations are somewhat of a hybrid between all-metal and all-ceramic crowns. A thin thimble of metal inside is fused with a layer of porcelain outside in a high-heat oven.
Some materials are mostly used to make metal structure:
- Porcelain fused to Ni-Cr
- Porcelain fused to Cr-Co
- Porcelain fused to Titanium
- Porcelain fused to precious metal – “Gold” crown (alloy: gold, PLATINUM, PALLADIUM, silver,INDIUM,TIN, IRIDIUM)
Advantages of porcelain-fused-to-metal crown (PFM)
- Strong, stable, high rate of success in the long run, reasonable priced
- PFM with thimble made of precious metal: Do not react with acid environment in mouth, good biocompatibility, superior fit – preventing bacteria invasion, greater aesthetic appeal than other alloys,
