How Should I Take Care of My Shiny New Porcelain Dental Crown?

Perhaps we’ve performed a root canal procedure and you needed a cap for your tooth. Or, maybe you’ve been down the implant road to replace a missing tooth, and the final piece of the puzzle — the crown — is in place. Whatever your road to a dental crown, you want to do what you can to protect your new “tooth.”

To help keep you smiling and chewing with confidence, the team here at Hillsdale Dental Care, including Dr. Roge Jacob and Dr. Magdalena Azzarelli, pulled together a few recommendations for taking care of your shiny new crown.

Daily cleaning

One of the great benefits of a dental crown is that we cement it into position, which means you take care of it as you do your surrounding teeth. This means:

• Brushing at least twice daily
• Rinsing after meals
• Flossing once a day

As well, don’t forget your dental cleaning here with us every six months. This professional cleaning is a great way to keep your teeth and gums healthy and your teeth white and bright, including your dental crown. 

Keeping your crown white

The material we use for your dental crown, namely porcelain, is tough and designed to hold up to the rigors of chewing. Not only does porcelain mimic the natural opalescence of your natural teeth, the material does an even better job at resisting stains than your enamel.

That said, crowns can still discolor over time, especially if you engage in certain habits, such as tobacco use or drinking beverages like red wine, coffee, and tea.

To keep all of your teeth white, including your dental crown, we suggest that you quit smoking and, when you eat or drink something that can stain teeth, rinse your mouth with water afterward.

Prolonging the life of your dental crown

The life span of your crown depends upon a number of factors, not the least of which is how well you protect your crown. In most cases, porcelain crowns last between 5 and 15 years, but we’ve seen them last even longer. We’ve also seen dental crowns last only a few years.

The primary difference between dental crowns that fail early and those that go the distance is the care the person takes to safeguard the prosthetic tooth. While porcelain is strong, it can still chip and crack, so you want to avoid:

• Eating hard foods like popcorn kernels or hard candies
• Chewing on ice
• Using your teeth as “tools” (opening packages, etc.)

If you play sports and there’s some risk of being hit in the mouth, we suggest that you see us about a sports mouthguard. 

With a little extra care, you should be able to enjoy your dental crown for years to come.

If you have more questions about caring for your new dental crown, please contact our office in San Jose, California.