White or Stainless Steel Crowns (caps)
What are White or Stainless Steel Crowns aka “caps”?
Sometimes called “baby teeth crowns,” these pre-made restorations are used to “cap” or cover a tooth that’s too damaged for a filling, or needs pulp therapy. Crowns benefit broken down teeth tremendously. By saving a baby tooth, we allow the jaws and muscles to keep growing, and prevent the adult teeth from becoming impacted or erupting in the wrong place.
What Type of Baby Tooth Crown Will my Child Need?
We place both white and stainless steel (silver) crowns, depending on where the damaged tooth is located. For back teeth, we usually place durable steel crowns; in the front, we try to place more natural-looking white crowns whenever possible.
What’s the Difference Between a White Baby Crown and a Stainless Steel Baby Crown?
Strip Crowns
White baby crowns, or strip crowns, are fabricated using a clear shell that is filled with tooth colored filling material and fitted over the tooth. A light is applied to cure the material, then the outer clear shell is removed, leaving the tooth colored material. Though most cosmetically pleasing option, it is also the most fragile type of crown. Strip crowns are only feasible if there is enough natural tooth structure left once all decay has been removed and prepped for crown placement.
Stainless Steel Crowns
Stainless steel crowns are silver colored caps
that cover the whole tooth. Pediatric dentists favor stainless steel crowns for restoring back teeth with extensive decay or decay in between the teeth. Stainless steel crowns are is the most durable, and last until the baby tooth falls out around the age of 12.
How Long Does it Take? Will it Hurt?
Crowns require only one appointment for placement. If your child needs a pulpotomy or pulpectomy it will be completed at the same appointment. Baby teeth crowns are done usually within an hour, and Dr. Parsi often uses safe nitrous sedation to make the process more enjoyable for your child. Once lightly sedated, Dr. Parsi will gentle administer numbing medicine to the tooth so the entire procedure will be pain-free. After Dr. Parsi has prepared your child’s tooth, he will bond an appropriately sized crown to the tooth with special biocompatible cement. Once the anesthetic has worn off, your child is ready to eat again and enjoy his/her normal activities.
Dr. Parsi and his wife have been delivering gentle pediatric care for over 17 years. If you have questions about baby tooth crowns, white or stainless steel crowns, or want to find out what other types of treatments we offer, come visit Parsi General & Children Dentistry in San Antonio and we’ll gladly answer any questions you might have! Parsi General & Children Dentistry – Proudly offering pediatric dental services and adult dental services such as dental veneers, dental implants, teeth whitening, Invisalign, and comprehensive family dentistry to the San Antonio area since 1998.