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3 Ways Dental Crowns Save Money In The Long Run

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Most people with damaged teeth often consider dental crowns an unnecessary expense. However, installing a dental crown can help you save hundreds if not thousands of dollars. 

Here are three ways a dental crown can help you save money in the long run. 

1. Alleviating the Need for Dental Implants 

The main benefit of getting a dental crown installed on a damaged tooth is to avoid losing the tooth. For instance, if you have a cracked tooth, a dental crown prevents the crack from expanding when you chew hard foods. Thus, failing to get a dental crown may cause the crack to enlarge, resulting in tooth loss. 

If you lose a tooth, chances are you will need to have a dental implant installed. But, a dental implant for a single tooth costs between $1500 and $6000, whereas a dental crown costs between $500 and $3000 depending on its material. The material could be metal, porcelain, gold, or zirconia.

Thus, getting a dental crown installed on a damaged tooth helps you avoid spending thousands of dollars on a dental implant in the future. 

2. Preventing a Root Canal

Dentists recommend root canals when the root of a tooth gets infected or decays. In most cases, a patient will experience severe tooth pain when the nerves in the tooth's root become infected or suffer damage. 

But most tooth root infections that lead to root canals occur due to damaged teeth. For instance, if you have a cracked or decayed tooth, the crack or cavity may allow germs and bacteria to reach the tooth root and cause an infection. As a result, you will need a root canal to remove the infected or decayed sections of the tooth root. 

Root canal procedures cost between $700 and $2100. But after the root canal, you still incur the cost of installing a dental crown to protect the filling. 

Thus, if you get a dental crown installed on the damaged tooth, you can avoid the cost of a root canal in the future. 

3. Avoid Frequent Fillings 

When most people get a root canal done, they usually opt out of having a dental crown installed. But filling materials are not strong enough to withstand chewing hard foods or grinding your teeth. Hence, when you don't get a dental crown after a root canal, the filling usually chips off, leaving a cavity. 

Failing to protect the filling with a dental crown results in frequent re-filling of the cavity left behind by a root canal procedure. 

Fillings cost an average of $100 to $150 if you opt for cheaper filling materials such as silver amalgam or composite. Though this may seem like a small amount compared to the cost of a dental crown, frequent fillings can easily surpass the price of a dental crown.

Thus, getting a dental crown installed immediately after a root canal saves you hundreds of dollars on future fillings. 


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