Dental caps, also called dental crowns, are thin tooth-shaped porcelain covers for the teeth. The main goal for dental caps is restoring full use of the tooth, and sometimes enhancing tooth appearance in adults. In children, caps may sometimes be necessary when a child still has their baby teeth if their teeth are damaged.
When Does Your Child Need Caps?
There are several different situations in which your dentist may recommend dental caps for children. If your child has a large cavity in one of their baby teeth, if a tooth has been cracked, or if a tooth has been otherwise damaged, a dental cap might just be the best way to preserve the tooth until it’s lost naturally. If your child has a tooth problem that is preventing them from using their tooth normally — or a problem which puts the rest of the teeth and mouth at risk — a dental cap may simply be the best way to maintain your child’s dental health.
What Are the Advantages of Dental Caps For Your Child?
Dental caps have a number of advantages. They can give the tooth a stronger surface than that of baby teeth. The natural enamel on your child’s baby teeth isn’t nearly as thick as the enamel that their permanent teeth will have. This means that tooth decay can transfer easily from one baby tooth to the next. Caps protect the damaged baby tooth and keep the decay from moving into the other teeth.
Dental caps are the best possible way to bring a tooth back to its original state. This means that your child’s newly capped tooth will be able to be used just like it was before the damage occurred. The cap will also help the tooth continue to act as a placeholder until the permanent tooth erupts.
When a baby tooth is damaged, it can be challenging for your child to speak normally. With the new cap, your child can avoid speech problems that might otherwise arise.
One of the most important advantages of having caps on damaged baby teeth is that your child can chew and eat normally. In many cases, young children can be a bit hard on their teeth — and that might even be the reason for the original damage. With a new cap in place, a child’s natural tendency towards chewing with great vigor isn’t going to cause further harm.
Which Type of Dental Cap is Needed?
The exact type of cap needed will vary based on your child’s own unique needs. Some options that our Pediatric Dentistry of Central Florida might recommend include:
- Tooth Colored Caps: Tooth-colored caps are made from porcelain or porcelain composite. They’re ultra strong, and they’re the most natural looking of the cap options because they match your child’s natural tooth color. This type of cap may be best if your child needs a cap for a very visible front tooth.
- Porcelain Fused Caps: Porcelain fused caps have two parts, the metal base and the porcelain that is fused to the top of it. This type of cap is extremely durable because of the metal base, but it still offers the aesthetic appeal of a tooth-colored porcelain on top. As with porcelain caps, porcelain fused caps are most often used for the more visible front teeth.
- Steel Caps: Steel caps are the most common kind of cap for baby teeth. The steel can be made for any size or shape of a tooth, just as the other options can. Steel caps are extremely strong and protect the tooth very well. However, they’re most often used only in the back of the mouth. The reason for this is that steel caps aren’t the same color as the natural tooth and thus aren’t as aesthetically desirable as porcelain and porcelain fused caps. The main advantage that steel caps offer is their cost — they’re the cheapest option.
Does your child need dental caps? Your pediatric dentist should always be the ultimate authority on this matter, and we at Pediatric Dentistry of Central Florida pride ourselves on offering the very best in children’s dentistry today. Contact us anytime to learn more about caps for your child!
