Crowns are fabricated from various materials including porcelain, gold, and other metals. Gold crowns are strong and resilient and are typically used for molars that are generally oriented towards the back of the patient’s mouth. Porcelain crowns are probably the most widely used material for fabricating crowns and are usually more useful for replacing teeth in the front part of the mouth because they can be made to appear very natural, with their color and texture mimicking that of natural teeth very closely. Some porcelain crowns are reinforced with a metal inside and are known as porcelain fused to metal crowns, and these are used to add onto the strength of the porcelain restoration with support from within.
Bridges also come in different forms to accommodate each patient’s individual requirement. Aside from the conventional kids bridges that are in use today, a cantilever bridge is designed to replace missing teeth at the back of the mouth where there can only be one end with abutments because no other teeth are present at the back to latch onto. A Maryland bridge is not used very often nowadays but were used to replace only one tooth at the time and made use of “wings” instead of abutments on either side to attach onto the two adjacent teeth.
