What kind of crown lasts the longest? i'm going to be getting a crown soon, and while i don't really care is it's the same color as my real teeth, i do want to pick the kind that will last the longest.

For : For a crown, there are three options: full metal, porcelain fused to metal, and full porcelain. Your question did not state where in your mouth the crown is being fabricated, but since you said you didn't care about the color, i assume it is a posterior and not an anterior tooth. . A full precious metal crown, high gold, will give phenomenal marginal adaptation to your tooth, minimizing leakage over time. Thin margins will be very kind to your gums, helping prevent food and bacteria from getting trapped and causing gingival recession. Since there is no porcelain, you never have to worry about a fracture of the porcelain. Esthetically it may not be the best choice, but it may last the longest. I have made a number of these restorations over the past twenty five years and i cannot recall ever replacing one that I have made. Many of the ones I do replace were place by other dentists over twenty five years ago. This is not to say that a well fabricated porcelain fused to gold or all porcelain crown will not last as long. The choice is between you and your dentist. I am sure there will be answers from the prosthodontists on the panel who may have their own experiences to share.

Well : Well made and carefully executed dental crowns of whatever material gold, porcelain and platinum or all porcelain, can and do last for years and years if they are well maintained. As has been stated we have the experience of our crowns remaining in the patients' mouths for ages. The real issue in trying to answer this question is "what makes a crown fail"? Four things can make a crown fail, decay, periodontal disease, abrasion and fracture. If a patient is unable to keep their teeth clean properly with regular brushing and flossing and rinsing, and having regular check ups and professional cleaning, there is a risk that the tooth under a crown will become decayed. This will result in a crown failing. There are extenuating circumstances that compromise a patient's oral health, like drug combinations for other ailments that result in reduction of salivary flow and this seriously increases the risk of decay. More crowns are lost when a tooth is extracted than for any other cause, and these teeth are taken out principally because of periodontal problems. If the bone supporting a tooth erodes away and the tooth become loose or the infected pocket painful we take the tooth out crown and all. Sometimes the gum pocket is related to a fracture in the structure of the tooth might be related to biting pressure the next reason for loss. The pressure of the bite can destroy a crown or cause bone loss supporting a tooth, and that causes the crowned tooth to either need repair or be unable to function properly and require extraction. Some patients grind their teeth so aggressively that holes are made through the tops of the teeth. Gold crowns opposing a harder porcelain crown might develop a hole because it is abraded away. Perforation of a crown causes it to fail. Related to the grinding pressure is the problem of fracture. All dental materials have their weak points, they are man's attempt to replace the miraculous nature of our body's natural structure with an artificial replacement. Porcelains can fracture either from pressure of biting or some inherent flaw in the crystal structure. The newer tooth colored crowns can all fracture, even the zirconium and pressed porcelain versions. So what kind of crowns last longest? The ones that are well made and are placed in a health mouth where the patient does not have abnormal grinding habits. Dr. Neil mcleod dds dentistry that lasts - quality that counts.

Total metal crowns: Esthetically unappealing in most modern cultures, solid metal crowns, without veneering, mechanically last longer because there is little chance of breakage! however, the greatest cause of crown failure, aside from poor dentistry, is not mechanical failure, it is recurrent decay and gum disease mostly from lack of daily flossing. The same issues that probably caused the need for the crown!