Any patient who needs a new dental crown is a candidate for same-day crowns.

Traditionally, dental offices rely on outside dental labs to fabricate crowns. In addition to suffering with the pain of a damaged tooth and paying for multiple dental visits, patients are subjected to messy, bad-tasting impression molding. Then the patient must wear a temporary crown which, in some cases, dislodges before the permanent crown is ready. When a temporary comes loose, the patient must return to the dentist as soon as possible for a replacement.

It usually takes around two to three weeks for the lab to fabricate the crown. When it is finally delivered to the dental office, the patient returns for a second visit. The temporary is removed, the permanent crown is placed, and the dentist checks the fit. If the new crown doesn’t fit properly, the patient will receive another temporary and have to again wait and return. This process has been the standard for decades.

In contrast, CEREC and CAD/CAM technology allow Dr. Shahid to place your new, beautiful crown in one visit. Moreover, your beautiful new crown will look natural and last for decades.

Your entire one-visit crown will take approximately 2.5 to 3 hours to complete.

Dr. Shahid takes pride in the details of cosmetic crowns. She’ll ensure that your new crown matches the color and luster of your natural teeth.

Once your tooth is prepared to receive a new crown, we will create a digital impression of your teeth. This eliminates the need for gummy impression material because a traditional mold isn’t required.

Next, our computer software designs a custom-fitting crown blueprint.

The CEREC milling machine then creates the custom crown from incredibly durable lithium disilicate ceramic. At Smiles on 35^th, we use the IPS e.max—a brand of dental ceramic renown for impeccable quality, beauty, and strength.

The milling process takes about an hour. Once it is ready, Dr. Shahid will ensure that the crown fits perfectly. Your satisfaction with the appearance of your crown is important to us, so you will have the chance to see your same-day crown fitted in place before it is bonded to your natural tooth.

When Dr. Shahid achieves the perfect fit, a member of our dental team will glaze and stain the crown before baking the prosthetic in a specialized oven. This step further strengthens the ceramic material.

Securing the dental crown involves thoroughly drying the area, adding a bonding agent, then positioning the tooth. A light solidifies the bonding agent, and the crown is fixed in place. The final step is checking your bite to make sure the new crown fits well with opposing teeth.

If you need an old crown removed, our office offers Dry Shield or Isolite for a comfortable crown removal process. The system holds the patient’s mouth open, allowing Dr. Shahid to work more efficiently, reducing discomfort and overall chair time.

While many CEREC crowns may not meet patients expectations since the material used is more opaque than natural teeth, that is not true at Smiles on 35^th. We utilize IPS e.max to fabricate same-day CEREC crowns so your new crown will match the rest of the teeth in your smile seamlessly in color and reflection of light.

Patients looking to fill in the gap of a missing tooth or teeth may be interested in a dental bridge.

This prosthetic device “bridges the gap” of up to three missing teeth with artificial teeth called pontics. At Smiles On 35^th, we ensure your pontics look natural and beautiful, so no one needs to know you have a bridge.

Unlike partial dentures, they are cemented in place and not removable. Instead, they are secured with either dental crowns or implants and then cemented in place.

Dental implants are a permanent solution that offers the highest level of strength and durability. However, some patients do not have enough bone to support an implant or are not interested in dental surgery. For those patients, same-day crowns are an excellent option. This process requires the placement of crowns on adjacent teeth, called abutment teeth.