Your Complete Guide to Same-Day Crowns

Picture this: You’re eating breakfast and planning your day when you suddenly hear — and feel — a crunch you weren’t expecting.

Your tooth has broken off.

It’s not a great time for that, you think. You have an important event in the next day or two, or maybe you’re headed out of town. You need this tooth fixed right away, but you’re not sure if dentists can fix it that fast.

Good news! At American Dental Clinic in San Diego, California, we offer same-day crowns that can have you back to normal in no time.

What’s a crown?

Let’s start with the basics. A dental crown is a covering that helps protect, repair, or replace an individual tooth. It’s manufactured to look similar to your natural teeth, so the change isn’t noticeable.

We often use crowns to treat teeth that are broken or cracked, weakened due to decay, discolored, worn down, or misshapen. They can prevent further damage to a tooth, allowing you to keep what’s left of your natural tooth and its root, which prevents bone loss in your jaw.

Single crowns are the most common restorative dental procedure in the United States.

How do same-day crowns work?

Traditional crowns require at least two visits to your dentist’s office. During the first visit, they prepare your tooth for the crown by removing some enamel and using a filling material where necessary. 

Next, your dentist takes an impression of your tooth with putty (or digitally) that they send to a lab where your custom crown is manufactured. You wear a temporary crown for 2-3 weeks before returning to the office so your dentist can place the permanent crown.

Same-day crowns compress this process into one visit. At American Dental Clinic, Dr. Emmanuel Aguilar scans the inside of your mouth with an intraoral camera, using the scan as part of a computer-aided design for your new crown.

While we mill the new crown with our in-office machine (it only takes about 15 minutes), we prepare your tooth by filing down the enamel. When it’s ready, we cement the new ceramic crown to your tooth before polishing it and making sure the shade matches your natural color.

Your new crown should last at least 10-15 years if you care for it by brushing your teeth and flossing regularly and visiting your dentist twice a year for cleanings.

If you need a fast tooth fix, American Dental Clinic is your one-stop shop. Call our San Diego office today at 858-215-2951, or book your visit online.