Ceramic Tooth-Colored Crowns in Fort Collins, CO

Have a chipped or cracked tooth?

Ceramic dental crowns are an effective and durable tooth restoration option.

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Meet the Team | Poudre Valley Family Dental

Ceramic Dental Crowns in Fort Collins, CO

Consider the amount of stress our teeth are subjected to during a routine day. Chewing, clenching, grinding – and biting into unexpected olive pits ­– all put significant stress on our teeth. Occasionally, your teeth may end up with damage that cannot be repaired simply with a filling. In this case, Dr. Gray may recommend a dental crown to protect your tooth. For our other preventive dentistry services, click here.

What Is a Dental Crown?

A crown is a restoration that completely covers the chewing surface of your tooth. Depending on the specific situation, a crown may extend all the way to the gumline or extend just part way down the tooth.

Dentistry is not just a science, but also an art. We appreciate that you want to feel and look your very best. Dr. Gray provides crowns that look and perform like natural teeth. The minimal-preparation technique used in our dental office helps to preserve your valuable tooth structure while repairing damage.

Additionally, we use a dental lab here in the United States to create your crowns. Our lab uses certified brand-name materials for a crown that looks great and lasts a long time.

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Do I Need a Crown?

Crowns are versatile restorations and can be used in a variety of applications. Some of the most common reasons we might recommend a crown include:

  • Cracked or broken teeth
  • Severely decayed teeth
  • Eroded teeth
  • Teeth that have been weakened by root canal therapy
  • Teeth that do not blend in well esthetically
  • Teeth that have been weakened by very large fillings

 Not sure a dental crown is the best option? Click here for our other preventive dentistry services. 

How Does the Dental Crown Procedure Work?

Your comfort is important to us, and we take it seriously. That is why we expertly and gently numb your tooth before treatment.

Once the local anesthetic has taken effect, Dr. Gray will carefully remove all traces of damage and decay from your tooth. This is an important step in your treatment to prevent secondary decay. Dr. Gray will take photographs and impressions for the technician who will be designing the crown so that it’s made correctly the first time.

Next, we will create a protective temporary crown to protect your tooth until your permanent crown arrives. Throughout the process, Dr. Gray will communicate with the lab to ensure the best color match and outcome.

Once we receive your permanent crown, Dr. Gray will bond it to your tooth, creating an airtight seal that keeps out food and bacteria. With the proper care, your crown should last for many years, protecting the tooth beneath it. You can feel confident that you received the best care because we treat every patient like a member of our own family.

If You Have a Damaged Tooth, Call for an Appointment

At the Fort Collins dental office of Dr. Richard Gray, our entire team is committed to providing exceptional dentistry at an affordable price. We consider your needs and put you first – every time. We look forward to welcoming you to our office and making dental care easier and more enjoyable than ever.

Meet our team

Dr. Gray is fortunate to work with an exceptional team. Every person at the office really cares about the well-being of our patients and is dedicated to treating each person with the respect and compassion they deserve.

Dental Education

Dr. Gray graduated from the University of Michigan Dental School. Before pursuing a career in dentistry, he completed a PhD in biochemistry and worked as a staff scientist at Vanderbilt University.

Dental Care Philosophy 

Dr. Gray is sincerely dedicated to providing comprehensive, high-quality dental care with compassion and personal attention for every patient. He believes each patient is an individual and enjoys getting to know everyone who visits the office. He has participated in over 400 hours of continuing education since he came to Colorado. These courses include participation in the Dawson Academy, the Spear Institute, live patient courses, TMJ treatment, smile design, and many other topics that keep him at the forefront of advances in dental treatment.

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Dr. Richard Gray, DDS | Poudre Valley Family Dental

Dr. Richard Gray, DDS

Jennifer | Poudre Valley Family Dental

Jennifer

Office Manager/Front Office Coordinator

Valentine | Poudre Valley Family Dental

Valentine

Dental Assistant

Claire | Poudre Valley Family Dental

Claire

Dental Hygienist

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“A very, very smooth process”

“Although getting a crown put on isn’t my idea of a pleasant experience, Dr. Gray made it a very, very smooth process. I really like how Dr. Gray tells me everything he is doing during the procedure and why he is doing it; I greatly appreciate the effort he takes to keep the patient informed. His number one priority is making sure I am comfortable and pain free. He is extremely efficient and thorough.” 

– Mallory M.

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Frequently Asked Questions about Crowns

Ceramic Tooth-Colored Crowns

Most likely no one will ever notice that you have a crown or bridge. Dr. Gray makes a very deliberate effort to ensure that your dental work matches your natural teeth. We take multiple photographs of your teeth before we start dental work. These photos are sent to our dental lab technician. The lab technician uses them to carefully match the shade of your crown to your existing teeth. We will also give you the opportunity to participate in, and approve the final shade selection. Dr. Gray works with a lab with 1 technician, located in Lakewood, CO. This allows us to communicate very effectively and achieve consistent results for shade and overall quality. Using non-local discount conglomerate labs with dozens of technicians does not produce the same consistently excellent result. Please take a look at our smile gallery to see some examples of our work.

Most patients find that they do not experience any pain during the crown treatment process.  From the patient’s perspective, shaping  a tooth for a crown is very similar to having a filling placed.  Dr. Gray uses a deliberate and specific protocol including multiple types of anesthetic to numb the tooth.  This protocol is extremely effective and allows us to numb the tooth with minimal discomfort.  After shaping the tooth for the crown, we place a plastic temporary crown to protect the tooth while the permanent crown is made. Occasionally people will notice minor sensitivity to cold while they have the plastic temporary crown.  Once the permanent crown is cemented onto the tooth, it will feel like a natural tooth again.

Sometimes teeth break in a way that allows us to repair them, and sometimes they break in a way that is impossible for us to repair. If you experience a catastrophic fracture, the tooth has to be extracted. In some cases, a fracture can expose the pulp chamber of the tooth, which means the tooth will need root canal treatment in addition to the crown.

What Happens When a Tooth Breaks

Even if the tooth breaks in a way that Dr. Gray can repair, you never know when a tooth will break or how much it will hurt when it does. You may be on vacation, or enjoying a weekend in the mountains, or it may happen on your birthday! Even in the best of circumstances, when a tooth breaks you have to modify your plans and make time to get to the dentist to have it examined and (we hope) repaired. If you have the crown placed before the tooth breaks, YOU decide when your appointments will be and maintain control over the situation, instead of dealing with an emergency.

A crown is typically the most-conservative and least-expensive treatment for a tooth with high risk of fracture.

Regarding crowns that you already have, there is no way to effectively change the shade or translucency to make them look more like natural teeth. The good news is that there have been tremendous advances in the quality and versatility of crown materials in the last 20 years. Using digital photography and modern materials, old crowns that are discolored and conspicuous can be replaced with crowns that blend beautifully with your natural teeth and have life-like shade and translucency.

Not typically.

Usually one of the reasons for placing a crown on a tooth is to prevent the need for root canal treatment. Root canal treatment is required if the inside chamber (the pulp chamber, which contains the tooth’s nerve and blood supply) of the tooth becomes infected or irreversibly inflamed. There are a number of ways this can happen. Common causes include fractures that expose the pulp chamber to bacteria in the mouth, cavities that extend into the pulp chamber, and trauma to the tooth.

Dental Crown Process

Placing a crown includes removing all decay and old filling material from the tooth and covering the tooth to prevent fractures. In rare cases, modifying and shaping the tooth for crown placement can cause inflammation of the tooth which does not go away. In these cases, root canal treatment is needed.

If you are concerned about a broken crown, you should definitely make an appointment to have it examined.  Do not wait until your tooth or gums hurt!  Typically, by the time teeth start to hurt, there is extensive damage present.  Dr. Gray will look at the condition of your crown, look for any new decay around the edges of the crown, evaluate an x-ray of the tooth with the crown, and discuss his findings and options for treatment with you. 

How a Broken Tooth Can Affect Your Dental Health

Sometimes a broken crown is a purely cosmetic problem and the tooth underneath is still healthy. Other times there may be new decay present where the crown meets the tooth, or the fracture may allow food to become trapped between the teeth. This condition puts both the crowned tooth and the tooth next to it at high risk for new decay. The sooner a broken crown is examined, the better.

Today, most crowns are made with one of two types of porcelain.

Both types of porcelain can be colored to match the shade of your natural teeth. One type is extremely hard, and looks a little less life-like. The other is not as hard, but has more translucency and shading, which make it look more like a natural tooth. Crowns used to be made from gold or from a gold substructure covered with tooth-colored porcelain. In certain situations, these materials are preferable to a full porcelain crown. Dr. Gray will discuss the risks and benefits of each crown material with you based on the tooth that needs treatment and your specific situation.

From a dental standpoint, these two terms mean the same thing. It is a covering for a tooth that improves the tooth’s appearance, and holds the tooth together to prevent fractures.

There are a variety of reasons a tooth can benefit from being covered by a crown.  Some of the most common reasons include cracks or fractures, severe/extensive decay, loss of tooth structure due to the placement of large fillings, root canal treatment, and esthetic or tooth position problems.

 Benefits of a Dental Crown

Any tooth that is fractured or has cracks present will benefit from the placement of a crown. If the tooth is already broken, the crown will replace missing tooth structure and prevent more fractures in the future. If the tooth is cracked, but no pieces have broken off yet, the crown will hold the tooth together and prevent it from breaking. When a tooth fractures, it may break in a way that we can fix, but it may break in a way that cannot be repaired and the tooth must be extracted. Teeth can also break at inconvenient times. Placing a crown before the tooth fractures allows you to plan for the procedure and schedule it at a time that is convenient for you instead of having to stop everything to deal with a broken tooth.

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