Dental Crowns in Melbourne

A dental crown is a custom-made crown that fits over a damaged or weakened tooth to restore its strength and protect what is left of it. At Gorgeous Smiles, our AHPRA-registered dentists fit crowns at our Melbourne CBD clinic on Exhibition Street, using tooth-coloured materials matched to the teeth around them. Whether a crown is right for your tooth is something an assessment confirms. To get started, book an appointment with our dental team.

A crown caps the whole visible part of a tooth above the gum line, rather than filling in one section of it. That is the difference between a crown and a filling: a filling repairs part of a tooth, while a crown covers a tooth that has lost too much structure for a filling alone. Once bonded into place it is fixed, not removable like a denture, and a crowned tooth is cared for much like your natural teeth. It shields the underlying tooth structure from further damage and restores function so you can bite and chew normally. It is also colour-matched to your existing teeth, so it blends in.

A dentist only recommends a crown after examining the tooth, but the common reasons point to a damaged or weakened tooth that needs more than a smaller repair: a cracked or broken tooth, a fractured or heavily filled tooth where a large filling has been replaced repeatedly, a tooth left more brittle after root canal treatment, worn teeth where grinding has thinned the biting surface, and a tooth too damaged for a filling to hold, where a crown protects what remains and the surrounding teeth. Booking an assessment confirms whether a crown suits your tooth.

A crown isn't always the answer. The deciding factor is usually how much healthy tooth is left, because a crown needs enough sound tooth structure underneath to support the cap. Where there is too little, or insufficient dental enamel to hold one well, another approach may suit better. If only a small part of the tooth is affected, a filling or some bonding with composite resin can often restore it without the tooth preparation a crown involves. For a front tooth where the concern is mainly how it looks, porcelain veneers may be more conservative, and where a tooth is already missing, a dental bridge or a dental implant replaces the gap instead. Fitting a crown also reshapes the tooth and removes enamel that won't grow back, so it isn't a step to take if a smaller repair would do.

Crowns are made from a few materials, and the right one depends mainly on where the tooth sits. Porcelain crowns and ceramic crowns look the most like natural enamel, which mak es them a common choice for front teeth and other visible teeth. Zirconia crowns are tooth-coloured but considerably stronger, so they hold up well on back teeth and for people who grind. Porcelain-fused-to-metal, full metal and gold crowns are very hard-wearing and suit molars at the back. There is no single best crown material; the dentist weighs up where the tooth sits and the force it takes when you chew.

With proper care, a crown commonly lasts around ten to fifteen years, and often longer. How long yours lasts depends on where it sits and how heavily it is used, so treat that as a guide rather than a promise. Caring for a new dental crown comes down to good oral hygiene, much like the rest of your teeth: brush twice a day and floss around the margin where the crown meets the gum, since that join is where decay can creep in underneath. Regular dental check ups let the dentist spot wear early, and a night guard helps if you grind at night.

There is no flat price, because a few things change what a crown costs. The crown material, for example, since a porcelain or zirconia crown isn't priced the same as a metal one. So does the tooth: a straightforward crown is a smaller job than one needing a build-up or root canal treatment first. At Gorgeous Smiles, dental crowns generally range from $1,000 to $2,500 per tooth, depending on the material selected.

Our Melbourne CBD dental clinic at 121 Exhibition Street is within a:

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