Porcelain crowns · At Yonge & Dundas
Porcelain crowns, for a tooth a filling can’t hold.
A crown caps the whole tooth rather than filling a hole in it, which is what a cracked or heavily repaired tooth needs once there is too little left to fill. It is made in a dental laboratory and fitted over more than one visit at Yonge & Dundas.
Broken something today? Call the desk and say so.- Cost
- Quoted at the exam
- Fitted
- Over more than one visit
- Tooth
- Reshaped to take the cap
- Insurance
- Checked before treatment
The procedure, in section
A crown covers a tooth. First it reduces one.
Three sections through the same tooth, drawn at the same size. They show what happens to the tooth underneath the porcelain, so you can weigh that against the result before agreeing to either.
What is left
Too little tooth to hold a filling.
A crown is what follows when a tooth has lost too much of its own structure — a large fracture, or a repair that has failed and taken more of the tooth with it. There is no longer enough sound tooth for new filling material to grip.
Shaped down
The tooth is reduced on every side.
A crown is a reduction procedure: the biting surface and all the sides are shaped down to make room for the thickness of the porcelain. Enamel taken off at this step does not grow back, which is why the exam comes first and the decision is yours.
Capped
The porcelain carries the load.
The crown is cemented over what remains, and its margin sits at the gum line — the seam this work is judged on. Your own root and core stay where they are, carrying chewing force through the porcelain instead of through a tooth that could no longer take it alone.
When a crown comes up
“It needs more than a filling.” Usually it has been going for a while.
Teeth rarely arrive at a crown in one step. They get there through a crack that was watched, a filling that was replaced, and then replaced again — each one leaving less behind than the last.
- A tooth is cracked, or so much of it is filling that little is left
- A large old filling has failed and been replaced more than once
- You’ve had root canal treatment and were told the tooth needs covering
- Someone said “crown” and you’d like to know what that actually means
What to expect
The steps, in the order they happen.
Nothing on this page replaces the conversation in the chair. It is here so you arrive already knowing what happens first, what the laboratory does, and what you are agreeing to at each step.
- Step 01
The x-ray and the read
How much of the tooth is left is what decides this. You see the film yourself and hear whether a filling would still hold, whether a crown is what the tooth needs, or whether it cannot be kept at all.
- Step 02
Preparing the tooth
The tooth is reshaped so the crown can sit over it at normal size. Like a veneer, this takes away tooth structure and cannot be reversed: once a tooth is crowned it needs a crown from then on.
- Step 03
The temporary
A temporary crown protects the prepared tooth while the laboratory makes the real one. It is not as strong as the finished crown, so you are told what to avoid eating until it is fitted.
- Step 04
The fit
Shade, contact and bite are all checked before the crown is cemented. Anything that feels high gets adjusted there and then, rather than three days later at home.
The case for it
What a crown is for.
A crown keeps a damaged tooth in your mouth and in use. That is the whole of the argument for one, and it is why a healthy tooth does not get crowned here.
It goes around the tooth
A filling sits inside a tooth and pushes outward. A crown goes around it, so a cracked or undermined cusp is held together rather than levered apart.
Shade-matched porcelain
Porcelain is matched against a shade guide held beside the neighbouring teeth, so the repair sits in the row rather than standing out when you laugh.
The bite is checked before you leave
A crown a fraction too high is felt at every meal for weeks. It gets adjusted at the fit appointment until you cannot feel it.
You hear the number before it starts
The treatment, the price and what your plan pays are all settled before the tooth is prepared.
Costs & limits
What a crown costs, and where this work stops.
And beside it, where this work stops, what gets referred elsewhere, and what nobody can promise you about it.
The ledger
- Crown
- Quoted at the exam
- Insurance
- Checked first, then billed directly
- Root canal
- Referred — the specialist quotes it
A crown’s cost turns on the tooth and the material, so the figure comes out of the exam in writing. Your coverage is confirmed at the same time, which matters here: a crown is the kind of work most plans have something to say about.
The tooth is shaped down first
A crown cannot be fitted without reducing the tooth it goes on, and enamel taken off at that appointment does not grow back. So the exam and the x-ray come first, the decision is yours, and if a filling would still hold the tooth we will say so.
Root canal treatment is referred out
This clinic does not perform root canal treatment. It is referred to an endodontist, a dentist whose practice is limited to it. A crown often follows that treatment; the referral is made from this office and your file stays here.
Implants are not placed here
A crown restores a tooth that is still in your mouth. Where a tooth is already gone, the options discussed here are a bridge or a denture, and you hear that at the exam rather than being quoted for work this clinic does not do.
No promised lifespan
How long a crown lasts depends on the tooth beneath it, your bite, and how well the margin is kept clean. No one can promise you a number in advance. What you get instead is a read on it at every exam.
Common questions
What people ask about crowns
How much does a porcelain crown cost?
No figure is published here. A crown’s cost depends on the tooth and the material, so it is quoted at the exam, in writing, before treatment begins — and your coverage is confirmed at the same time.
Is a crown reversible?
No. Preparing a tooth for a crown removes tooth structure so the cap can fit at normal size. The tooth needs a crown from then on, and a crown that fails is replaced rather than removed.
What is the difference between a crown and a veneer?
A veneer covers the front face of a tooth; a crown covers the whole tooth. Veneers are usually a cosmetic choice and crowns are usually a structural one, and the exam explains which your own tooth needs.
Do you perform root canals?
No. Root canal treatment is referred to an endodontist — a dentist whose practice is limited to it. Where a tooth needs both, the specialist does the root canal and the crown is fitted here afterwards.
Will the crown match my other teeth?
Porcelain is shade-matched against the teeth beside it before the crown is made, and the shade, contact and bite are all checked at the fit appointment before it is cemented.
How many appointments does it take?
More than one. The tooth is prepared and a temporary crown fitted at the first appointment; the finished crown is cemented at a later visit once the laboratory has made it.
Will my insurance be billed directly?
Yes. Applicable insurance is billed directly, and the clinic confirms what the plan pays before treatment starts.
Book a visit
Book the exam and find out whether it needs a crown.
The x-ray and the exam answer that, and the price comes in writing before anything is prepared.