What are zirconia crowns?
Crowns are cap like structure placed over the tooth or dental implants and cemented with dental cements.
Zirconia crowns are made of zirconium oxide. This material comes in various shades and can be matched exactly to the tooth of individual patients.
Dental crowns are coverings for teeth when the cavity can’t be restored with filling materials. Dental crowns can be mainly of two types, one with base layer as a metal and the other type is metal free or zirconia crowns. Patient’s who choose to go for metal based crowns can have problem later if at all they have to get MRI later which is not the case for patients who choose to go for zirconia crowns.
CT and MRI are commonly used diagnostic tools in healthcare these days. Since MRI machines generate powerful magnetic fields to produce the required image, dental restorations and prosthesis made from ferromagnetic metals which include nickel iron cobalt and alloys like stainless steel interfere with image acquisition and may also result in untoward accidents due to dislodgement and or thermal burns or projectile accidents.
If a dental crown contains magnetic material then there is a chance that it might get pulled off from tooth resulting in pain, or even if doesn’t get pulled of significant damage to crown can definitely happen. Metals in crown could also become hot due to energy absorption by the MRI machine resulting in thermal burns to the surrounding tissue. Metal based crowns can also scatter radiation resulting in blurry or dark images, making it difficult to make correct diagnosis.
Hence zirconia crowns can act as alternative to metal based crowns. Since cost is definitely a factor for patients to choose metal based crowns as zirconia crowns are comparatively more expensive. But since CT scans or MRI are becoming essential tools for accurate medical diagnosis, relevant factors must be explained to the patients beforehand. Patients must be encouraged to go for zirconia crowns as it is more safe and relevant, aesthetically more pleasing too.
We at Aesthetica, KOLKATA have a team of specialists who expertise in zirconia crowns for smile designing and for any other purpose for which crowning of teeth becomes essential.
