Dental Crowns & Bridges in Mesquite, TX
When was the last time you smiled comfortably and with confidence? Are you the person in photos who always seems to be unhappy even though you’re not? Do you find yourself covering your smile when you laugh or talk? Have you been bypassing healthy fruits and vegetables because it hurts to eat?
Living with teeth damaged by disease or decay takes its toll on many areas of your life. Broken or cracked teeth can cause our Mesquite patients pain and embarrassment, not to mention that they are vulnerable to tooth decay and infections. It can be challenging to chew and eat with a fractured tooth, which can affect your nutrition and diet.
Of all the issues that broken teeth can incur, patients are mostly unhappy with how their appearance is affected—especially when the missing or cracked tooth is highly visible. Discomfort in your appearance can affect your confidence, self-worth, and personal happiness. Not feeling comfortable enough to smile when you want can impact your joy in ways you may not realize.
At Town East Dental Group, Dr. RJ Loera has helped many patients achieve a healthier smile with restorations like dental crowns and bridges. Both are restorations, but they perform different functions that restore your quality of life while enhancing your smile. If you have a flawed smile, we can restore it.
- What Is a Dental Crown?
- How We Use Dental Crowns
- Placing Your Dental Crown in Three Steps
- Your Choice of Materials
- What Is a Dental Bridge?
- Please Call to Arrange a Dental Consultation
What Is a Dental Crown?
A dental crown is a porcelain “cap” that covers the entire surface of your weakened or broken tooth. It not only seals your tooth from infection and decay, but it also recreates the look of your tooth and restores your smile to its original glory. At Town East Dental Group, we will go through all your available options and make a professional recommendation. We believe in patient education and active participation in dental health, so we will never pressure our patients, and we ensure they understand their options fully.
Dr. Loera will recommend a dental crown if you have a cavity that is too big for a filling, or a fractured or cracked tooth. Patients can also utilize dental crowns to change the shape and size of their teeth. We will go through all your dental options during your dental appointment to see what treatment is the best plan for your smile.
How We Use Dental Crowns in Mesquite, TX
Dental fillings are essential because they restore the health of your smile. In some cases, however, a tooth is too damaged to be resolved with a dental filling, and Dr. Loera would recommend a strong, durable crown to restore the form and function of the damaged tooth.
Severe damage is a common reason for a dental crown, but there are other cases where a crown would be the best choice:
- Strengthen and protect a tooth after root canal treatment
- Restore function and appearance to a dental implant
Placing Your Dental Crown in Three Steps
The process of placing dental crowns on your teeth takes a couple of weeks, but the results are well worth it.
Step 1: Prepare the Damaged Tooth – We need to alter the size and shape of the damaged tooth to ensure that the crown will fit comfortably and blend with surrounding teeth.
Step 2: Take Dental Impressions – The dental lab that prepares your crown needs a guide, so we take impressions of your teeth that are used to create a model. We send the model along with shade specifications to the lab, and you will leave our office with a temporary crown.
Step 3: Place Your Dental Crown – Patients enjoy the third step in the process because they know they will leave our office with a beautiful dental crown that blends seamlessly with their smile! We remove your temporary and then make adjustments as needed, so the crown fits comfortably in your mouth. Dr. Loera will check for high spots that affect your dental bite, then polish the crown and bond it to your teeth with long-lasting dental cement.
The entire process should be smooth and pain-free. We work closely with patients to ensure that they are comfortable throughout the process; we understand how dental procedures can make some patients nervous. If you feel dental anxiety before any procedure, please let anyone on our caring dental staff know so we can utilize sedation dentistry to keep your stress-free and relaxed.
Your Choice of Materials
Dental crowns can be available in different materials; your Concord dentist may choose your crown depending on the location of the tooth and how much bite function is necessary. Teeth in the front of the mouth may utilize porcelain crowns for their beauty and function.
Dental crowns made of porcelain or ceramic are prized for their natural appearance, making them a popular choice with our patients. But we also offer porcelain-fused-to-metal (PFM) and gold crowns. PFM crowns have an underlayment of metal to add strength, so we typically use them on molars that withstand a lot of chewing force. Gold is the strongest of the materials we might recommend them for molars or if you have a strong teeth grinding habit.
We will share the pros and cons of each and answer your questions, but the final decision about the type of material to use is yours.
What Is a Dental Bridge?
When you are missing a tooth, Dr. RJ Loera may recommend a dental bridge to enhance your smile and restore your lost tooth. Dental bridges are bonded to the dental crowns that are placed on neighboring teeth, creating a “bridge.” Dental bridges are considered a cost-effective and reliable way to restore a tooth and are a popular choice with many Mesquite patients who choose not to pursue dental implants.
If you have more than one missing tooth, Dr. Loera may recommend an implant-supported dental bridge. This dental process can replace multiple missing teeth with just a few dental implants. Many patients enjoy the permanent effect of dental implants and can rest assured that the dental prosthetic will never slip or fall out.
Please Call Us to Arrange a Dental Consultation
Most dental insurance covers at least a portion of the cost of dental crowns or bridges, and before we start any work, Pam, our insurance coordinator, will obtain a pre-treatment estimate, so there are no surprise costs. If you don’t have insurance or want to finance your co-pays our out-of-pocket cost, we will be happy to talk to you about CareCredit interest-free financing that allows you to get the care you need and pay off your balance in smaller monthly amounts.
Teeth can break or fall out for a variety of different reasons, but they can easily be replaced, and your smile and bite function can be restored. We are here to make your life easier and better, and we do our best to make your appearance stunning at the same time. If you are thinking about a dental crown or bridge, you have some decisions to make, but we will guide you through each step of the process.
Please call today at (972) 270-2911 to arrange a dental consultation with Dr. Loera.
Frequently Asked Questions
An implant vs a bridge is a very important question to ask. For a bridge, you require one tooth behind and in front of the space to have anchors for a bridge that will replace the missing tooth. Sometimes placing a bridge on a tooth can make the tooth sensitive. For an implant, it is important to evaluate the amount of bone present and see if there is enough bone to hold a dental implant. Both treatments are great for replacing missing teeth and they each have their pros and cons. Dr. Loera and the Town East Dental Group team will help you know your best treatment option.
At Town East Dental Group, one of the most common restorations we provide for our patients is dental crowns (caps). Crowns are a versatile restoration that can be used to resolve a variety of dental problems.
What Are Dental Crowns?
Dental crowns are used to strengthen and protect the integrity of a tooth damaged or weakened by decay, periodontal disease, or a teeth grinding habit. It's crucial for your continued oral health that we do everything possible to preserve the structure of your teeth for as long as we can. We may also use a crown to protect your tooth after root canal treatment or as the functional part of a dental implant.
While most people think of crowns as being restorative, they also have esthetic uses. If you have a tooth with a large silver amalgam filling, we can use a dental crown to cap the tooth and eliminate the “dark hole” in your smile. A crown can also be used to restore cracked or chipped teeth, as well as masking the appearance of a severely stained tooth.
Contact Town East Dental Group Today
Every patient is unique and has different dental needs. The best way for us to know if a dental crown is an appropriate treatment for you is to arrange a consultation at our Mesquite dental office so Dr. Loera can evaluate your needs and explain your options.
Root canal therapy is a procedure your dentist in Mesquite, TX, uses to save an otherwise damaged tooth or suffering decay. Because of this damage, Drs. Loera and Clark will likely have to remove portions of your tooth before sealing it up.
This procedure will leave your remaining tooth brittle and diminished, and if the point of root canal therapy is to save the tooth, leaving a tooth that could break down would be counter-productive. So instead, your dentist will restore your remaining tooth with a dental crown.
What Is a Dental Crown?
A dental crown is a complete tooth restoration generally made of high-quality porcelain custom-fit to your specific tooth. This type of restoration is strong, durable, and attractive. In addition, by covering the old tooth entirely, your dental crown will protect what remains.
Your crown is also similar to maintain as your natural tooth. You will brush and floss as you do with your other teeth, but your crown will not decay or develop cavities. However, the tooth structure supporting it can. You should get it checked at regular dental visits to ensure its fit has not changed.
Discover Root Canals and Dental Crowns in Mesquite, TX
If you fear losing a tooth causing you issues, we welcome your call to Town East Dental Group. Let us partner with you to achieve improved oral hygiene.
Dental restorations come in many shapes and sizes, but all kinds replace any lost tooth in form and function. So they are shaped to work like teeth and often also look like natural teeth. However, your dental crown's material may look more or less like a natural tooth depending on the specific tooth as well as that tooth's location.
Porcelain Dental Crowns Look Like Natural Teeth
If a crown or bridge is porcelain, its material composition makes it a natural choice for replacing teeth that look natural. Porcelain ceramic is white and mimics the hardness and reflective qualities of teeth.
Other Materials are Strong and Ideal for Back Teeth
At Town East Dental Group in Mesquite, TX, we also offer porcelain-fused-to-metal (PFM) and gold crowns. PFM crowns have an outer layer of porcelain over a metal core for inner durability. These restorations make an excellent choice for bicuspids or molars that undergo wear from chewing.
You also may choose gold because it's one of the most robust materials we might use for back teeth. Though gold does not resemble a natural tooth color, but because back teeth are usually out of sight, they might make the better choice if toughness is more important than appearance.
Dental Crowns and Bridges in Mesquite, TX
If you consider a dental crown or bridge restoration, we can offer you some options and guide you through the process. Don't hesitate to call today and arrange a dental consultation.
One of your dentist’s main functions in Mesquite, TX is to help you deal with missing teeth. In the United States, up to 120 million people report having lost at least one permanent tooth. Regardless of the cause, Dr. RJ Loera will recommend a number of replacement options because the absence of any tooth will eventually lead to other oral health challenges.
Bridges and Dentures Replace Missing Teeth
The two most common methods to replace teeth are dentures and dental bridges. A denture is a general term for artificial teeth. Two types of dentures are full and partial – if you’ve lost either all of your upper or lower teeth (or both), full dentures are usually removable and replace an entire row. To replace a smaller number of teeth, you can use a partial.
A dental bridge is actually considered a type of partial denture. But a defining characteristic of a bridge is fixed, and it attaches to the adjacent teeth on either side of the gap, with a tooth crown-type restoration that fills, or ‘bridges,’ the gap. Bridges are permanently cemented and need to be cleaned and flossed thoroughly like normal teeth.
Dentures and Dental Bridges in Mesquite, TX
Missing teeth endanger your overall health and can be resolved with dentures and other restorations. For more information, contact us for a consultation.
Meet Our Doctor:
Dr. RJ Loera
Dr. RJ Loera graduated from Baylor College of Dentistry in 2014. He is a member of the Dallas County Dental Society, Texas Dental Association, and American Dental Association. He attended The University of Texas at Austin for his undergraduate studies where he earned a BA degree in Biology. He also won a Best Dentist award in 2025 from D Magazine.
The facet of dentistry he enjoys most is having the ability to directly impact and help his patients to maintain and improve ...
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