HOW DOES CAVITY OCCUR UNDER A CROWN? Dental Crowns, also known as teeth caps help envelop a damaged or mishaped tooth to revamp its appearance and function. When a natural tooth has a deep cavity, it cannot be treated with dental fillings and mandates extensive repair works like RCT. The dental caps are utilized to enclose the root canal-filled tooth. Obviously, the natural teeth repaired with crowns are protected to a great extent but it does not mean that they are not susceptible to decay or bacterial infection.
Will oral bacteria affect a crowned tooth? In simply, yes. Normally, dentists extract the infected portions of a tooth and then fabricate a custommade cap. It is then fixed over the remaining tooth structure with an adhesive agent. The dental crowns are manufactured with a variety of materials- porcelain, metals, stainless steel, and even gold from which the dentists choose depending on the patients' needs. Even though a dental crown renders the protection the treated tooth wants, cavities occur because the remaining natural portion of the tooth exists underneath.
How do cavities occur underneath a dental crown? In most cases, the infections in a crowned tooth happen with poor oral hygiene. Usually, the infection begins with the plaque (a thin biofilm of oral bacteria and saliva) deposition in the region where tooth and crown meet. This junction is called margin. The plaque build-up will appear if you do not remove the food debris lodged in the margin properly. It provides a way for the oral bacteria to enter beneath the fixed crown and affect the remaining portion of the tooth, eventually ends in cavities. Keep in mind that the chance to preserve a decayed tooth after crowning is very less.