I need to get a dental crown but am a bit short on money. I’ve been looking at both traditional crowns and those one-day crowns. I’m hoping the one day crowns are less expensive because they only take one appointment, but it is for a front tooth, so I want to make sure the one-day crowns are just as good as the old-fashioned ones.
Sara
Dear Sara,
I’m glad you wrote. The truth is that both a traditional crown as well as a CEREC crown will cost about the same amount. Yes, it is true that the CEREC crown takes only one appointment as opposed to the traditional crown, however the CEREC machine costs a dentist about $150,000. That is a huge expense to cover, so dentists will generally spread that out in the cost of the crowns.
The quality of the crowns is about the same either way. However, because you are needing this crown on a front tooth, I highly recommend that you get a traditional crown. Same day crowns are milled out of a single block of porcelain. Our natural teeth have variations in their color and opacity. That is why with traditional crowns dentists use more than one block of porcelain so they can get all those subtle differences in there.
This doesn’t mean you still can’t get an affordable dental crown. The key, however, is not in the type of crown as much as the dentist that makes the difference in the price. If you are looking for an affordable dental crown, I would look for an affordable dentist. They are much more likely to have reasonable prices, as well as allow you to make payments instead of paying for everything up front. You can generally find them by doing an internet search for the term “affordable dentist”. I hope this helps.
This blog is brought to you by Phoenix Dentist Dr. Hillary Peck.