Stainless Steel Crowns: A Strong Choice for Dental Restoration

Dental crowns have become the standard technique for restoration in the dental world. Almost all kinds of dental problems can now be rectified with dental crowns ranging from cosmetic issues to structural issues. With the advent in dental material technology, there are many kinds of dental crowns that are now available in the market including the likes of the traditional crowns (metal crowns, stainless steel crowns, Metal fused with porcelain crowns etc) and the modern day esthetic options such as ceramic crowns, zirconia crowns or porcelain crowns.

Dental crowns serve a wide variety of purposes and have a very broad range of applications in the dental world. Some of the most important applications of dental crowns are:

• Helps with structural integrity

Dental crowns are used to provide better strength and durability to a weak tooth or structurally impaired tooth in the case of a fracture or after pulpal therapy in children (or after root canal treatment in adults). They are placed on top of a weak tooth or a post operated tooth to provide strength to the tooth to carry out all its functions.

• Helps with restoration of tooth functions

When a tooth is infected or is weak in structure, it cannot be useful in mastication of food and can cause a lot of pain. Infected teeth can cause discomfort and the infection can spread to the nearby teeth as well. By using a dental crown, the tooth can be protected and restore all its day to day functions.

• Helps with protection of the original tooth

An infected tooth needs to be treated and all the infected or decayed portion must be removed. The rest of the tooth structure can be preserved and fit with a dental crown to help keep the original tooth intact. After the treatment of the tooth, the remaining tooth is left exposed to germ and bacteria attack which can be protected by placing a dental crown.

• Helps provide esthetics and improved appearance

Dental crowns can also be used for cosmetic purposes. For patients who have mismatched teeth either shade wise or structure wise can choose dental crown as an option to create aesthetically pleasing teeth with complete shape and size match. This is applicable only to zirconia, resin veneer stainless steel crowns or ceramic crowns where shade matching is possible.

Stainless steel crowns for Adults

Stainless steel crowns is one of the oldest treatment modality for decayed, weak or infected teeth for both adults and in children. Stainless steel crown tooth is one of the oldest dental materials and has been in use from the 1950's for the treatment of tooth in cases of weak structures, infection or post operative. Dentists all over the world choose stainless steel crowns for adults and for children and can be used perfectly as temporary as well as permanent crowns.

Although with the advent in dental material technology, stainless steel is no longer the top preference for permanent teeth in adults but can be used extremely well in pediatric patients as they need dental restorations only until their primary teeth exfoliate. Stainless steel is one of the most safest, strong, durable and economical tooth restoration materials that can be found in the market even today, with the rising number of options in the market. In older patients with low medical accessibility and for patients who have low dental hygiene and low coordination in dental procedures, stainless steel crowns are still the most suitable dental restoration option.

Stainless steel comes in many sizes and shapes and is premade. Prefabricated stainless steel crowns are an excellent way to use them just like dental caps. They come in so many different sizes and shapes and can be used instantly after any procedure. All the dentist needs to do is to prepare the tooth and measure it with the available stainless steel option. Then the crown can be adjusted and crimped to fit perfectly on top of the preserved tooth structure and cemented together using a suitable luting agent.

Stainless steel crowns for pediatric patients

Pediatric patients need a temporary dental restoration solution as they need dental crowns only until their permanent teeth come in. Primary teeth naturally exfoliate and permanent teeth come in by the age of 13. This gives rise to unique requisites such as strong and durable but not too expensive as they won't be needed for too long a time. Stainless steel crowns are an excellent option to fill these requirements of patients and dentists mutually.

Pediatric patients are unique - they may not cooperate with dental procedures and they usually have low dental and oral hygiene. This makes them a suitable candidate for stainless steel crowns as they can be fixed pretty easily on teeth and they also take up very less chair side restoration time. They can easily be done on young pediatric patients as well as on young adults and because they are so cheap, they are an excellent choice for young kids who may lose or damage their crowns often. They can be easily fixed and restored if the crown is preserved.

Prefabricated stainless steel crowns are a lifesaver for pediatric patients. Given that young kids do not cooperate in dental procedures and have low dental hygiene and also are prone to losing their crowns too often, prefabricated stainless steel crowns offer a simple solution to all these problems. They come in so many different shapes and sizes and can be easily tried on, adjusted and crimped as per need and the patient is all set! By following simple post operative procedures, the crowns are set pretty fast and patients can start using them just as their regular teeth in no time. They are also super cheap, which makes it so convenient for patients who need multiple restorations and lose their crowns or damage them too often.

Advantages of stainless steel crowns

Let us take a look at the advantages of choosing stainless steel crowns over other modern day solutions from the market:

1. Strength and durability

Stainless steel crowns are strong and durable and can be used for well over 5 to 8 years on average. Stainless steel crowns have been around for decades now and being an alloy made with chromium and nickel that impart strength and sturdiness, this is the number one choice of dentists all over the world when it comes to dental crowns for patients. Not just for temporary crowns in pediatric patients, it is an excellent treatment modality for adults as well, particularly for those who are older and with low access to dental care or hygiene.

2. Safety

Stainless steel crowns are made with safe constituents that do not cause gingival inflammation or reactions in children or adults. Unless you have a clear metal allergy or nickel allergy to be specific, stainless steel crowns can be safely used in adults as well as in children. They have 15 percent chromium, nickel 76 percent, iron 8 percent and small parts manganese, silicon and carbon, all of which are safe for the human body.

3. Economical

Stainless steel crowns are economical because they are made in scale. Since they are made industrially on a large scale, their costs are very low. They are available as preformed or prefabricated stainless steel in the market. For patients who are prone to high levels of carrious infections and multiple infections at a time or patients who are prone to losing their crowns often need a simple and cost effective solution. This is where stainless steel crowns can be extremely useful. Since they are so cheap, they are suitable for such patients.

4. Ease of use

Stainless steel crowns are very easy to fix - they have a very low chair side time. Since they are prefabricated and come in so many different sizes and shapes, they can be chosen based on the size requirement of the patient. Their structure is malleable and so they can be crimped and adjusted quickly to match the size requirements of the patients. They take less than half the time required to restore with other dental materials such as ceramic or PFM (porcelain fused to metal) crowns.

5. Adaptability

Patients can also quickly adapt to stainless steel crowns. They fit easily, do not cause much pain or discomfort and because of their easy to fix nature, they are very easy to adapt to. Many children who come in with dental issues and are needed to be set up with crowns find the adaptability with stainless steel crowns much better to the other kinds of crowns and dental materials available in the market. This is why dentists all over the world still rely on stainless steel crowns as they are easy on the patients as much as they are easy on the dentists.

Conclusion

These are some of the benefits and advantages of using stainless steel crowns. Since their popularization in the 1950’s many dentists have been advocating for these crowns and research spanning over several decades supports the use of these crowns because of their fundamental characteristics: Strength, durability, safety and pocket friendliness.