Hello,
I needed to have five crowns placed in my mouth. My dentist used porcelain fused to metal crowns and I ended up paying a couple hundred dollars extra to try and avoid the black line along my gum line. Even though I did this, you can see the line on nearly every one of them. Do you know if this is normal?
– Lacy from Tennessee
Lacy,
From what you have described, the extra payment is probably referring to a “porcelain butt margin.” Some dentists have the technician scale back the metal used at the base of a porcelain fused to metal crown. The idea here is that that in the front the margin that is showing should be in porcelain.
Although this technique works to disguise the metal somewhat, it still can be visible. The color may end up more of a grayish color versus the black line, but again you can still see a darker area.
An all-porcelain crown will give you the most natural-looking, beautiful result. When this kind of cosmetic work is done by an experienced cosmetic dentist, it will look very lifelike. The thing is that it takes extensive training beyond dental school to beautiful cosmetic work. And dentists are trained in porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns, so often times that is where their comfort level is. Many dentists feel that this kind of treatment looks good enough. Again, if the appearance of your smile is important to you, an expert cosmetic dentist can give you the results you are after.
Although porcelain fused to metal is good for back teeth, when it comes to front teeth, all-porcelain is the more aesthetically-pleasing option.
I hope this information was helpful.
This post is sponsored by Baton Rouge dentist Sherwood Dental Care.
Related link: porcelain veneers, teeth whitening