Dental crowns are used to protect a compromised tooth and restore it to its original size, shape, and function after it sustains damage from injury, infection, or a dental procedure like a root canal. While dentists have treated teeth with crowns made from metals like gold and silver for centuries, recent decades have seen the rise of tooth-colored dental restorations that can believably blend in with the natural smile. Here’s a brief guide to how your dentist can make your dental crown match the color of the rest of your teeth.
What Is the Natural Color of Human Teeth?
Dentists call a tooth’s color its shade. While movies and TV would lead viewers to believe that human teeth are naturally a dazzling, milky white, this isn’t really the case. Normally, adult teeth are a slightly yellowish shade of off-white. This is because the outer layers of the teeth include the bluish-white enamel, which is the hard, protective layer on the outside, and the porous, yellowish dentin underneath it. The color of human teeth can vary significantly, as healthy teeth can be lighter, darker, more yellow, or even have a tinge of red to them.
How Do Dentists Match Crowns to the Color of Natural Teeth?
Matching crowns to the color of natural teeth is not a simple process. Normally, your dentist will begin by using a tool called a shade guide, which is a metal or plastic card with a row of artificial teeth of various colors. Your dentist will hold this guide next to your teeth in search of a similar shade.
The process does not stop there. The appearance of color is highly dependent on the light available, so your dentist will probably take care to use natural light or something similar while color matching. They may position you next to a window or under fluorescent lights that are similar to natural light. To avoid contrast that can throw the perception of color, you may be asked to remove colorful makeup or jewelry, and the dentist may cover your clothes with a gray cloth.
Your dentist may also ask the patient or a colleague for their opinion or may use a spectrometer, a small electronic device that uses sensors to determine the color of teeth.
How Are Dental Crowns Made the Right Color?
Once all the data is gathered, your dentist will write down the information on your teeth and gather drawings or digital images of them. This information will be sent to a laboratory, where a skilled technician will use it to manufacture your crown. However, if your dentist uses CEREC technology, your teeth can be inspected and your crown can be manufactured and placed in one visit.
Dental crowns do fantastic jobs of restoring teeth for millions of patients. By making such thorough efforts to match them to their new smiles, dentists make sure their patients leave their office with an appearance they can be proud of.
About the Author
Dr. Albert Silvera graduated with his dental degree from the UCLA School of Dentistry and has continued to pursue further education opportunities since then. He proudly serves as a member of the American Dental Association, the California Dental Association, the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, and Spear Education. His office in Los Angeles, CA offers general, cosmetic, emergency, and restorative dentistry such as dental crowns. For more information on the process of getting dental crowns, contact the office online or dial (310) 575-0886.