10.31.08
Dental Crowns - in 60 Seconds for under $110?
You’re researching dental crowns on the World Wide Web and have discovered that they’re going to cost you more than the car you drive. Suddenly, you see an ad on a web site: “Crowns in under a minute: $109.95 each!”
Too good to be true?
Not necessarily, if you understand that what is being offered here is a temporary “quick fix” - and its being marketed to dental professionals, not consumers.
When you go in for dental crowns, it is important to understand that you will be undergoing a multi-step process that will require two visits. At the end of the first visit, your dentist will place temporary dental crowns that will allow you to eat in a (reasonably) normal fashion until the off-site laboratory has had an opportunity to make the permanent ones - which can take up to three weeks. (The exception here is if your dentist works at a full-service facility with its own lab on-site -but such facilities are exceedingly rare.)
Centrix Dental is just one of many companies that market supplies to the dental profession, and their line of temporary crown and bridge materials are only one of thousands of such products. Your dentist may use Centrix products, or those from another company, according to his/her preferences, budget, and any relationship his/her practice may have with the company.
If you enter the term “dental crowns” into your favorite search engine, you may also bring up an advertisement for “Lumineers.” These are not dental crowns, but rather a brand of veneers. Veneers are similar to dental crowns in that they fit over the surface of the patient’s natural teeth - however, whereas dental crowns are like caps that fit over the entire tooth, a veneer is just that - a sheet of ceramic material that is applied to the outside of a tooth.
There is no “brand” of dental crowns that are necessarily better or worse than others, although naturally, an ethical dentist who genuinely focuses on his/her patient’s best interests will use what s/he considers to be materials of the highest quality. What does make a difference in any dental procedure is the dentist’s level of skill and training. The unfortunate fact about some companies that offer “instant” dental solutions is that they are more about marketing than patient well being. They build up an image for their products that creates public brand recognition, then offer these products to dentists in exchange for a fee. These companies also offer weekend training seminars (usually no more than marketing presentations) that qualify dentists to market themselves as “Brand X Dentists!”
We cannot stress this enough - any cosmetic procedure, whether its the placement of dental crowns, veneers, or any other type of cosmetic dentistry - requires extensive study and training, and cannot be learned in a weekend.
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