If you have decayed or broken teeth, don’t wait any longer to schedule an appointment with the Oyster Bay Family Dentists. Although we provide general dental services, our speciality is prosthodontics, the placement of prosthetic teeth. Sometimes, a tooth is too damaged to be repaired with a simple filling, but when large parts of it are still intact, we may give it a partial crown.
Partial crowns are usually placed on molars or premolars, the wide teeth in back. These teeth grind food and have deep indentations in between their pointy bits, called cusps. It is easy for food debris to get trapped in the indentations, where it would become infected and decay. The acid produced by oral bacteria would damage the enamel, causing the patient pain, and if it continues, the infection may reach the pulp chamber. The cusps surrounding the indentation may also be damaged, whether through decay or being broken off in an accident.
When a patient is suffering from tooth decay, we’ll remove the damaged enamel after numbing them with a local anesthetic. Once the infected material has been removed, we can take an impression of the patient’s mouth that will be used to mill the partial crown. A partial crown that nestles into the indentation is called an inlay, while a partial crown that substitutes for cusps is called an onlay. The custom-fitted partial crown is cemented onto the tooth, allowing the patient to eat normally again. It will need to be cared for through regular brushing and flossing, but can last for over a decade.
Drs. Denise VeyVoda and Robert G. West operate The Oyster Bay Family Dentists at 123 South Street, Oyster Bay, New York, 11771. To schedule an appointment, call 516-922-5730 or visit Oyster Bay Dentists and fill out a contact sheet.
