Crowns for Primary Teeth

Young children with significant tooth decay or who have lost a large part of a tooth will need to have it restored with a crown. This covers up the entire tooth and protects it from any further damage. Crowns for primary teeth are quite different from those used to restore adult teeth as they can normally be placed during one visit to our dental office. Their main purpose is to protect the primary tooth until it is ready to be replaced with the adult tooth, ensuring the correct sized space is maintained until the adult tooth is ready to erupt.

Crowns for primary teeth may be made from stainless steel or they can be a combination of stainless steel and tooth colored composite. Some are made entirely from composite resin which is a material similar to that used for tooth colored filings.

Stainless Steel Crowns

Stainless steel crowns have been widely used for many years and before their invention dentists had no choice but to extract badly decayed primary teeth. The crowns are pre-made in a variety of shapes and sizes. The tooth is prepared before our pediatric dentist NJ selects the size most appropriate for that tooth. The crown can be trimmed and adjusted to provide a good fit before being cemented in place. It will remain in position until the tooth is shed naturally when the adult tooth is ready to erupt.

Open Faced Stainless Steel Crowns

If the decayed tooth is in a highly visible area we may choose to use a stainless steel crown with a tooth colored facing. During this procedure the stainless steel crown is fitted onto the tooth before being cut down to provide a ‘window’ on the most visible surface of the crown. This window is then filled with tooth colored bonding material, creating a strong but more aesthetic looking crown. It can be quite hard to completely cover up the metal color with the composite so the resulting crown may look a little different from the rest of the teeth.

Pre-Veneered Stainless Steel Crowns

Pre-veneered stainless steel crowns are pre-made with a composite resin tooth colored facing. These are more aesthetically pleasing than open faced stainless steel crowns but they are relatively fragile and the resin facing can break off if a child bites into something particularly hard. They are also less easy to fit to the tooth as the kids dentist needs to adapt the tooth to fit the crown.

Composite Crowns

These are the most popular way to restore primary front teeth as they can look quite natural. They are not as durable as stainless steel crowns and they do have quite a high failure rate and are very technique sensitive. The procedure consists of selecting a celluloid crown form which is then fitted over the prepared tooth. Next, the celluloid form is filled with tooth colored composite and placed over the prepared tooth. The composite resin is hardened and the celluloid tooth form is cut away so the composite tooth can be finished and polished.

Acrylic Crowns

Acrylic crowns consist of acrylic shells that are adapted to fit primary teeth using self-curing acrylic resin. They are very aesthetic and are more durable than composite and pre-veneered crowns, although they are more fragile than open-faced stainless steel crowns.

We will discuss all available options with you, including the pros and cons of each crown so you can make an informed choice. These crowns only need last a relatively short period of time and will not provide the same highly aesthetic effects given by custom-made adult crowns which cost significantly more to fabricate.

D2390 Composite Resin Crown, Anterior

D4260 Osseous Surgery (4 or more contig. teeth)

D2391 Comp Resin, One Surf., Post., Perm or Prim (includes PRR)

D2392 Composite Resin, Two Surfaces, Post. (Perm or Primary)

D2393 Composite Resin, Three Surfaces, Post. (Perm or Primary)

D2394 Composite Resin, Four Surfaces, Post. (Perm or Primary)

D2740 Crown-PorcelainlCeramic Substrate

D2750 Crown-Porcelain Fused To High Noble Metal

D2751 Crown-Porcelain Fused to Base Metal

D2752 Crown-Porcelain Fused To Noble Metal

D2790 Crown- Full Cast High Noble Metal

D2791 Crown-Full Cast Base Metal

D2792 Crown-Full Cast Noble Metal

D2799 Provisional Crown

D2915 Recement CastIPrefab Post and Core

D2920 Recement Crowns

D2930 Crown-Stainless Steel, Primary Tooth