Dental crown procedure: an in-depth step by step easy guide you need to read

Chapter 3: Dental Crown Procedure

We are now at the third chapter of your venture, a complete guide on dental crowns. Now that you know most of the details about dental crowns and their types, it’s time to understand how are dental crowns installed and prepared.

With the dental crown procedure, it’s important to understand, is very easy and requires only one to two appointments, depending on the type of dental crowns you’re getting. The dentist will need to prepare your teeth, file them down to create the space around them for the crown, and get a mold of your teeth. The dental lab will use this mold to create your custom-made crowns. Your crown is ready in one to two weeks, requiring just an additional appointment for fitting and installation. 

If you want to know everything about the dental crown procedure, let’s continue with this step-by-step guide.

The step by step dental crown procedure guide 

Dental crowns are one of the most requested and needed dental solutions. The procedure is pretty much routine for a dentist, it’s easy and only requires one to two dentist appointments. During the first visit, the dentist will assess the situation and then file down the teeth. When the prepared tooth is ready, the dentist will create the mold for the lab. During the second visit, there will be the fitting and installation of the newly created dental crowns. If you’re opting for one-day dental crowns, you will only need one appointment.

Two things are worth noting: one, you may need a root canal treatment before getting dental crowns. Two, you will be given temporary crowns between the two procedures as a preventive solution to not leave the tooth exposed. 

With replacement, the doctor starts the dental procedure by taking directly the mold as the teeth are already filed down.

The classic dental crown procedure

Let’s talk about the process. The dental crown process is pretty easy. Only two appointments are necessary to put your dental crowns on and get your new beautiful smile. During the first appointment, you’ll notice the doctor prepare your teeth and assess the situation. After the mold is done, you’ll be sent home with temporary crowns. In the second appointment, the dentist will put your permanent dental crowns on. Finally, you can enjoy your new smile. This whole process is painless thanks to the local anesthesia the dentist will inject before starting the process. The whole process takes from one to three weeks, depending on the clinic and the dental lab.

Part 1: The First Visit

• The talk: at the beginning of the visit you will need to talk with the dentist about your needs, your goals, habits, medical history, wishes for the final results, and dental issues. The doctor needs to have complete knowledge of the patient’s medical, dental, and life history. This is the time to disclose diseases, allergies (to avoid an allergic reaction), habits (smoke, chewing hard objects), and if you have bruxism (teeth grinding). You may discuss the type of crown or types of crowns that will work better for you.
• The assessment: it’s now time for the dentist to check your teeth, gums, and overall dental health. The dentist will look at the patient’s mouth, teeth, gums, and overall dental health. Your dentist will make sure there’s no need for other procedures and there’s no extensive decay. If there are no issues, the dentist will start with preparing the tooth – or teeth – in need of a crown. 
• The reshaping: The dentist will inject the local anesthesia and wait. Once the area is numb, the process can start. The dentist files the tooth or teeth to reshape it. Your tooth will be much smaller to make space for the dental crown and the cement. The tooth is filed on top and sides. This process is not painful as you will be numb thanks to the local anesthesia.
• The mold: After the filing of the tooth, the doctor will create a mold of the teeth and the adjacent teeth with an impression tray. This mold allows the lab to create perfectly matching crowns custom-made for you. The impression tray then goes to the laboratory immediately to start the creation process. The patient and the dentist will discuss the color of the dental crown. It has to be the exact shade of the teeth surrounding it. The doctor has a shade guide to choose from. This allows for a natural appearance and for the crown to look like a natural tooth.The choice should be a perfect match for the patient’s teeth. There shouldn’t be any mismatch, or the crowns will look unnatural.
• The temporary crown: The dentist will then apply temporary crowns. These crowns will protect the reshaped tooth and will cover the empty area. Once the permanent crowns are ready, you will toss the temporary ones as they’re not meant to last.
• Part one is done!:  the dentist visit and first part of the dental crown procedure are now over. The dentist will give the patient advice and suggestions on how to handle some discomfort after the dental crown procedure. Also, the dentist will give some advice on how to take care of the temporary dental crown.

There may be some side effects, but it’s an easy recovery process. Take extra care of your temporary crowns and your oral health, so avoid hard food, cold food, hot food, don’t chew hard objects, and follow the Dr’s advice on dental care.

Part 2: The second visit

When your dental crowns are ready, the patient goes back to the dentist’s office. So, what’s the installation part of the crown process? Let’s find out together the second part of the crown procedure:

• The fit: Once the crown preparation is done, the dentist will check the dental crowns. They need to be a perfect match, color-wise and shape-wise. If they’re not perfect, they will be sent back. If they’re the perfect match for you, it’s time to install them. First, the dentist takes the temporary crown off.
• The disinfection: The dentist will thoroughly disinfect the area to avoid any bacteria stuck under the dental crown causing rotting teeth, cavities, damaged teeth, or tooth decay. This is an essential step. The dentist uses a disinfectant special care solution made for the natural teeth and gums.
• The installation: Dental cement acts as a bonding agent between the natural tooth and the permanent crowns. A special light beam, an ultraviolet light, dries the cement extremely quickly. This way the crowns will stay glued, tightly attached to the teeth. The dentist should give special care to this part to avoid attaching it incorrectly or excess cement.
• Smile transformation: Congratulations, you are done! The dental crown procedure is over and you’ll be able to go home after a chat with the dentist. The dentist will explain to you how to take good care of your newly made dental crowns.

Now it’s time to take care of your crown, keep good oral hygiene, have regular follow-up visits during the year with your dentist. The recovery period will last just 2-3 days. The recovery period has some discomfort and light pain. A few over-the-counter- pain killers may help.

Dental crown procedure time 

We explained the dental crown procedure and all its steps. But how many steps does it take to get crowns from start to finish? Well, to answer this question, we need to specify something first.

The answers vary because the dental crown procedure time is between 1 week to 4 weeks. This depends on the dental laboratory creating the crown. If the clinic has an external lab the time gets longer as the lab has to handle multiple customers and multiple clinics. If there’s an in-house lab, your crowns will be ready in a week or less. This is because the lab has to handle only one clinic’s requests.

At Dentfix we have our own dental lab inside our clinic. This means your whole process will require 7 days, no more. As soon as your impression tray is ready, the team will start working on it. We value your time and won’t ever ask you to wait weeks to get your dental crowns.

The same-Day crown procedure

The same-day crown procedure only requires one day and a single appointment at your dentist’s office. Instead of a mold, an intraoral camera is used to take an image of the teeth. This camera will help create a 3D image of the teeth needing a crown. This 3D image is a very accurate impression. It is then sent to a CEREC machine. The CEREC machine will create your crown immediately without waiting days or weeks.

So, how does the visit go during the same-day procedure?

You will go to the clinic and have a visit with your dentist. They will analyze your situation and check for any conditions like tooth decay or cavities. If everything is ok, the process can start. After reshaping the teeth, the 3D camera will send the 3D image to the CEREC machine. You will wait until the machine creates your dental crown. This takes one to two hours. When the crown is done, the doctor will start disinfecting and applying the dental cement to attach the crown to your teeth. Once the crown is glued, you’re ready to go with your bright smile!

Usually, the whole process takes from 2 to 4 hours. Time may vary according to the number of crowns needed.

The replacement procedure

So, what if you need a crown replacement? What’s the procedure for this kind of procedure? 

The dental crown replacement procedure follows exactly the normal procedure. The dentist will unglue your previous crown and remove it – unless it already fell off or broke off. There won’t be any shaping of the teeth as they were already previously shaped. Again, there will be a mold of your tooth and sent to a laboratory. For same-day crowns, there will be a 3D scan. If it’s not a same-day crown, the patient will get the temporary one and go home. When the dental crowns are ready, the installation process will start. Disinfection, cement and attachment. You can now enjoy your new crown.

Crown procedure for a child

A dental crown procedure for a child follows exactly the same steps as for adults. There is no change in procedure. 

So, it comprises: visit, shaping of the teeth, creation of the dental crowns, cleaning of teeth and gums, and gluing of the dental crown. There is no difference at all. The procedure may take more time cause children need more breaks than adults. 

What happens after a child’s crown procedure?

After the procedure, the child should avoid food until there’s no feeling of numbness. This is very important to avoid injuries to the cheeks or the lips.

Your child may notice discomfort during the 24 hours after the dental crown procedure. You may talk to his dentist or pediatrician about some children’s painkillers, like ibuprofen. The healing process is fast and should not worry the parent.

If the pain doesn’t stop after 24 hours or there’s no improvement in pain killers, contact your doctor immediately. 

Frequently Asked Questions about Procedures

We asked our team of translators and customer service agents which questions are often asked by patients interested in the dental crowns procedure. So here are some of them: 

Dental crown procedure what to expect?

You shouldn’t worry about the dental crown procedure. Most of our patients felt nothing during the procedure and some discomfort in the following days. There are no pain and traumatic experiences, so don’t worry. You should just ask how to take care of the crowns and temporary crowns after the installation.

Is the dental crown procedure painful?

Usually, no. During the procedure, there’s the possibility of local anesthesia. After, most patients talk about discomfort in the adjusting period and rarely about pain. There’s always the possibility of taking painkillers. 

Can you get a dental crown the same day?

Yes, thanks to CAM/CAD technologies it’s possible to get a same-day crown. The whole process lasts 3-4 hours and only one dentist’s appointment is necessary. You’ll get home with permanent veneers the same day.

How to prepare for a dental crown?

You don’t need any preparation for a dental crown procedure. Just follow any advice the dentist gives you. The dentist will take an x-ray and a root canal may be necessary according to your situation.

Can you put a crown on without a root canal?

Yes, you can absolutely have a dental crown procedure without a root canal. These are two different dental solutions. The root canal procedure is only necessary if decay, extreme inflammation, or infection and are present. If there’s no decay, you won’t need to get a root canal. Your oral care provider will tell you if you need one before the procedure.