So you go to the dentist for your regular every 6 month cleaning and they tell you at the end of it that you need a few crowns. Your heart just drops because just the word “crown” sounds expensive! Well, let me tell you that you are not alone in this feeling! So many times we fear that the dentist really just wants our money to keep up that new boat that he just bought or maybe he wants a nice trip to Paris.

The truth is that your dentist probably has your best interest in mind if he is recommending a crown. Here are some reasons that he may give you for needing one:

• there are fractures on the tooth
• decay exists far beneath the enamel
• the tooth has broken beyond repair
• or there is decay underneath an already large existing filling

Now, at the moment you may be saying that you don’t need a crown put on your fractured tooth because your tooth doesn’t hurt or bother you in any way. The reason that he would suggest a crown on a fractured tooth is because  cracks in a tooth cannot be fixed in any other way than to put a crown on it. Most times the cracks extend far below the enamel and to try and fix it with a filling is impossible. The dentist has your best interest in mind because when it comes to fractures you just don’t know when the crack will actually cause the tooth to break and depending on the location of the break the tooth could possibly be non repairable — meaning you would have to extract the tooth.

When there is decay that extends deep under the enamel , the safest way to fix the tooth would be to have the decay taken out and a crown placed on top of it because the tooth will become very fragile after so much of the enamel is removed and replaced by a filling. The larger the filling is, the more stress is placed on the outside walls of the tooth and ultimately the tooth will crack and break under the pressure.

If your tooth has broken and it already has a large filling in it then the dentist will most assuredly advise you to have a crown. The tooth probably had some fractures in it already and because of the stress from the filling and also from the opposing tooth hitting it — it broke. If you have this tooth patched up with another filling which will cost you at least $130 and it breaks again, you lost money because it will continue to do so until the tooth is covered with a crown.

Just talk to your dentist and be assured of the reasoning behind the crown needing to be done. It always helps to give you confidence when you know the whys and hows:) And remember, a dentist has to give account with x-rays and a detailed narrative to every insurance company for the reasons why a crown is being done in your mouth so he wouldn’t be doing one if you didn’t really need it.