What kind of crowns do you recommend ?

 

As dentistry inevitably evolves, the types of crowns our practice recommends has changed as well. It used to be that our default posterior crowns were either gold or porcelain to fused crowns... While I still recommend full gold crowns for second and third molar teeth, I am utilizing Full thickness esthetic zirconium crowns for most other posterior teeth ( first molars, first bicuspids and second bicuspids). The Esthetic zirconium crowns , when properly done are great restorations for many posterior teeth.  I believe that with proper tooth preparations and the use of more modern cements , these crowns may  last an extremely long time (10-30 years). 

For anterior teeth, I use different types of crowns, depending on the individual saturation. In most situations I prefer lithium disilicate crowns with full lingual lithium disilicate but with minor porcelain layering on the facial surface to allow for superior esthetics. 

For some teeth with compromised tooth structure or with gold posts in place, I still may choose a porcelain fused to metal crown and often use a beveled preparation to help increase the amount of sound tooth structure available to secure the crown with a preparation with increased  ferule. Also Pfm crowns are excellent at blocking out any show through caused by a gold post.