I'm keen to see you at my dental clinic in Gilbert should you have a dental crown that has cracked.

Crowns have been known to break. The average dental crown in my Gilbert dental crown office can last a very long time. They've been known to last as long as 15 years. Maybe even for longer than that, though they may also need to be changed much earlier.

Even modern crowns, which are sturdier than older ones, could disintegrate before you know it if you don't take care of them. When you grind your teeth, you are putting pressure on your crowns. People mostly grind their teeth while sleeping although almost all of them have no idea.

And some people chew really hard, or chew on ice.

If you see a crack in your dental crown, it is probably to do with the porcelain. At least the porcelain parts of the crown. Gold and other metal alloys will usually not fracture because they are flexible and can adjust to grinding and other pressure-related actions of your jaw.

As a result, these kinds of materials are the best for supporting your dental crowns.

Gold or metal doesn't look good. By mixing in porcelain with the metal crown, we can make it look nice. But that's not all. We can also use a crown made entirely of ceramic. These types of crowns, though, are more breakable.

With porcelain dental crowns, no one will know them from your real teeth. Mainly because it is translucent and smooth. But they won't last as long because ceramic is unable to stand the tremendous forces of your jaws whenever your teeth grind together in chewing.

And another thing. Porcelain is a frail substance so if one area is broken, it spreads to other areas.

If your porcelain crown does break, we should ask for another one. Not only will they not look good, it is not good for healthy teeth. Infection might set in. If you keep it as it is, we may have more than crown problems. We may need to restore your whole tooth. Probably with a dental implant.

Come see me anytime if you are in the area. If you find one of your teeth has a broken Gilbert dental crown, I would recommend you see me and let my extremely capable staff and me help fix things.