Mission Viejo Dentist Uses High Quality Dental Implants

If you have a tooth that needs a dental implant or crown, The Vartanian Dental Group of Mission Viejo recommends a high quality porcelain crown. If you are going to replace it, it might as well be with a higher quality product that will last. What should a person expect and how long should a dental implant or crown to last? These questions and more will answered in this month’s blog.

Determining how long a crown will last is a difficult task because many factors determine the longevity of the crown or dental implant and they include:

• Material (full gold vs. porcelain fused to metal core, porcelain fused to non- metal core and all-porcelain) The Vartanian Dental Group will use an all-porcelain tooth in most cases.
• The Location, whether back tooth vs. front tooth
• How much tooth remained when prepared for the crown? Was there much left of the original tooth? Was it a heroic effort on the dentist to even try to save the tooth?
• Bite force, how much or how hard you grinder and clench your teeth
• Hygiene practices: Do you brush and floss daily?

Most Dentists will tell you that a crown will last between 5 to 15 years, and can last as long as 25 to 30 years, but most dentists would be disappointed if a dental implant or crown only worked for 5 years.

If that was the case, there was probably a reason it only lasted for 5 years and perhaps a bridge will be the next step to repair the teeth in question, but that is another topic for another day. With that said, the good news is, most insurance companies will pay every 5 years on a crown. If the insurance companies aren’t surprised if the crown should be redone, then their standard of practice seems to lean towards getting your teeth fixed, so it must be an important health factor. Again, some cases may have been more difficult than others.

For example, I was in a motorcycle accident as a teenager and went over the handlebars and landed on the concrete with my face. I lost a couple front teeth and one In particular, was barely a nub left for the dentist to work with, but we were able to put a crown on it and it worked for the last 25 years, having to replace it once after about 10 years of usage.   Most crowns will average a life more along the lines of 10-15 years and many people have crowns in their mouths for more than 25-30 years. One thing I noticed over the past 25 years of living with dental implants is that I have to keep up my oral hygiene more than if I had all my original teeth. I’m not sure why that is or maybe it is just because I am getting older, I find that everything needs a little TLC. I make three appointments a year instead of two, only allowing 4 months between visits and that seems to be a good formula for me. Of course, the technology and products used today are much better than they were 25 years ago when I had all this dental work done.

Once you have dental implants, especially in the front, I would highly recommend staying away from doing things like putting roofing nails in your mouth, or biting your finger nails, or removing bottle caps or even biting an apple. Dental Implants and crowns are strong and are made to last, however, using a porcelain crown inappropriately can cause the porcelain to chip or fracture, or worse, the porcelain veneered on the metal base could break off. As long as the crown is manufactured to the highest standards, like at The Vartanian Dental Group in Mission Viejo, they only use highest quality materials. When choosing the right materials for your crown and ensuring a proper fitting to your bite, your dental implants will have the potential to last a lifetime.