Do Dentists Numb You For a Crown?

One issue that people are often concerned about when it comes to dental procedures is whether you’ll experience discomfort or pain. That issue is no less acute related to porcelain crowns in Flagstaff than in relation to any other procedure. Will your dentist in Flagstaff numb your mouth while providing you with crowns?

Providing porcelain crowns near you does not take place in a single moment in time, but is a multi-step process that often takes several appointments (though same-day crowns are available at some dentists). To provide an accurate and precise answer to the question, then, requires explaining the entire process of being fit with dental crowns.

What are the steps to getting crowns?

During a complete examination, your dentist in Flagstaff will take images of your teeth and jaw to ensure the underlying tooth is healthy and able to support the crown. If the tooth to be crowned is not healthy, your dentist will make recommendations to deal with whatever is going on. During this step, your mouth would not usually be numbed since it’s essentially a specific examination similar to one performed at a regular checkup.

Your dentist will remove some material from the surface of the tooth to accommodate your crown. The goal will be to prevent adding any bulk to your tooth and to ensure that the biting surface of your tooth is at the same height as your other teeth after the crown is in place. Your dentist will numb the areas being treated before removing any material from your teeth to minimize any discomfort.

Depending on the condition of your tooth, sometimes that preparation step involves adding some material and not just removing material if that’s what is needed to ensure the tooth can support the crown. The affected area will remain numbed throughout this process.

Once the tooth has been prepared, your dentist in Flagstaff will take impressions of your tooth — and the teeth around it — to have a crown made and to ensure that the final crown will fit alongside and along with your other natural teeth. The taking of impressions is not a painful or uncomfortable process, but your mouth will likely still be numbed while they’re being taken since this step is completed right after enamel was removed from the tooth or teeth.

At the end of this process, your dentist will fit you with a temporary crown to wear until your permanent crown is ready to be bonded to your prepared tooth. This is important because the removal of material from your tooth leaves it more vulnerable to penetration by bacteria and tooth decay until a permanent crown has been installed. The numbing effect will still be in place at this stage.

Those impressions will go to a dental laboratory, where technicians will craft a crown to fit your prepared tooth and the neighbouring teeth precisely.

At your second visit, your dentist will remove the temporary crown and then place (but not bond) your permanent crown onto your tooth. The purpose of this dry fit is to make sure that the crown fits properly and that the colour matches your remaining teeth as desired. Your dentist will numb the tooth or teeth being crowned during this step.

Assuming your new permanent crown fits and blends in perfectly, your dentist in Flagstaff will numb the affected tooth and then permanently cement the crown to your tooth using special bonding compounds. Your dentist will numb the tooth or teeth being crowned during this step.

You’ve heard it once and it was true every time. There is no such thing as a bad question. Whatever questions you have about any dental procedure, don’t hesitate to contact your dentist to ask the staff at a dental clinic near you. Information and conversations are two of the biggest weapons against nervousness and anxiety.