Dr. Keith Edward Clear, DDS, MS

Yes

The tooth and the inside of the veneer are cleaned with a mild acidic solution. The surfaces of both are coated with a bonding adhesive and sandwiched together. The adhesive is usually hardened by a special blue light that activates the chemical reaction. The dentist will meticulously clean the edges during and after the bonding procedure.
Each veneer is custom made to fit each individual tooth, therefore the amount of adhesive is minimal. When all of the edges are bonded to enamel, the connection is very strong.

The timing can vary. Generally, for the lower jaw, it is 3-4 months after surgery, and for the upper jaw, 5-8 months. In some cases, when the bone to implant connection is very solid and the dentist/patient wants to finish ASAP and are willing to deal with the increased risk, the final restoration can be done sooner than mentioned above. These are often referred to as "Immediately loaded" implants.

Crowns last a long time. Most important is to keep the tooth that the crown is placed on healthy, cavity-free and with healthy gum tissues and bone surrounding it. The crown has the potential to last the rest of your life, but it depends nearly completely, on the health of the tooth on which it is connected.

Crowns are replaced when portions of them chip or break in critical areas (somewhat rare), if cavities happen along the gum line or in between teeth and cannot be accessed for repair without removing the crown. Crowns can also be replaced if your teeth change color and no longer match the crowns (replacing the crown to get a better color is usually optional).

Sadly, it's not always easy to tell. Some small cavities can hurt like crazy and big, deep ones not hurt at all. It would be best to get it checked and fixed as soon as possible. It will be easier to fix and less expensive in the long run.

It varies according to guidelines set up by each individual state. There are new requirements for the dental offices to follow and some offices are not allowed to open until they complete the new requirements. Call the dentist you are interested in visiting to get the actual answer.

Zirconia is highly biocompatible once it is made into a crown, so having any allergic difficulties would be unlikely.

As much as possible.

Yes, however, it is connected to a tooth that may not last for your lifetime. For the tooth to last a long time, it needs to be crack-free, not get another cavity/decay, have healthy gum tissues surrounding it, and maintain healthy bone levels. Crowns can last a lifetime, but ONLY if the tooth it is connected to lasts a lifetime, too.

Usually decay (cavity) that has happened after the bridges were placed onto the teeth. They must be cleaned at the gum line more carefully than regular teeth. Decay at the edges cause leakage. The teeth can also fracture (many reasons). More rarely, the glue-like material could fail or the teeth could be shaped stuck that the glue is being over worked. See a dentist to get the actual answer.

The more original tooth above the gum line that is available equates to a better fit and longer-lasting connection for a crown that would go over the remaining tooth structure. The more the better!

Veneers most often are made in a dental laboratory of models that are copies of the original teeth. The veneers are custom made to fit the teeth for which they are made. Usually, the original teeth need to have some
shaping made to them prior to making the mold that the dental laboratory uses. In some cases, no shaping of the original teeth is required. The veneers and the original teeth are super cleaned, and thin layers of
bonding material are applied to the veneers and teeth. Then the two are connected together, cured and polished. Another way to visualize veneer procedures is being similar to getting artificial fingernails but on a fancier, more precise procedure.

Single crowns connected to dental implants are held in place in two methods. Ideally, there is an access path to get to the screw that holds the crown in position, and after removing the filling and protective plug the screw is undone and the crown can be removed. If the implant angle or position does not allow the screw channel to be hidden on the chewing surface or tongue surface than an abutment is placed first, then a more conventional crown is "glued" to the abutment. In this case, the crown would need to be sacrificed (usually by cutting the shell in half) and removing that outer layer in sections. The crown would then need to be remade. Sometimes, a single hole can be made in the crown to get access to the retaining screw and then removed.

Yes. Any tooth can have a dental crown placed on them. There needs to be an adequate amount of tooth structure to support the crown.

Yes. Although the crown is the best protection, if a crack already started prior to the crown placement, it has the potential to propagate (continue cracking).

Inhaling smoke provides contamination on the surface where the smoke actually touches the wound in addition the particulates that are absorbed into the bloodstream and are brought to the wound through the blood vessels. Any contamination can decrease wound healing capabilities and increase the risk of the implant not connecting to the tissues of the bone and skin.
This would be a great time to give up smoking! It's not a healthy practice for any structure in the mouth or the lungs. If you are unable to quit or continue to smoke, just realize you are
decreasing the chance of success long-term.

It can be, but keep a close eye on it. The process of a tooth receiving a crown is a slightly brutal one. The glue-like material to hold the crown on is often slightly acidic and can make the tooth sensitive. The discomfort should fade. If the bite feels higher than the other teeth, that will make the tooth sensitive and needs to be adjusted as soon as possible. I would suggest giving it one more week, but if it doesn't settle down, please let your dentist know about your concerns and have them check the crown and the tooth it is on.

The strongest crown would be a non-precious metal crown. These are also, generally, less expensive. The drawback is the appearance is silver or chrome colored in nature.

The next strongest would be type III gold. It has a very good, long track record has a dental restoration. The drawback is the price of gold has become very expensive, and the color of the tooth would be gold.

The third strongest would likely be zirconia. The original form of zirconia (3Y) is strong but the color tends to be very white. This is least objectionable for back teeth. It is hard to get an acceptable match for front teeth with 3Y zirconia. The concern of this restoration is future replacement is more difficult due to the hardness (cubic zirconia is man-made diamond material). It is closer in color to natural teeth then the silver or the gold and may wear the teeth it chews against faster than desired.

The 4th strongest crown material is the modified zirconia (5Y) which is more translucent and can be colorized to be very similar to natural teeth. Equal in strength to 5Y zirconia is lithium disilicate that goes by the trademark e.max. There are other companies that also make lithium disilicate, but e.max by Ivoclar is the originator. These look very much like natural teeth and are similar in hardness to natural teeth.

No. A root canal procedure is done when damage occurs to the nerve system inside the tooth. This is often needed if a cavity became very deep before it was repaired. Because of the amount of damage done by the cavity to the tooth and the procedure of cleaning out the inside of the tooth to remove bacteria, a crown is nearly always required on a tooth that has had a root canal procedure. Crowns are done for teeth to repair large areas of damage. This is frequently done when a tooth has very large filling and more parts of the tooth have broken away making it less predictable to repair the tooth with another even larger filling. Teeth with damage that is too large to fix with a filling alone may need a crown in order to adequately restore the tooth. This includes teeth without any need for a root canal treatment and those that require root canal treatment. Root canal treatment repairs damage to the inside of a tooth. Crown
treatment repairs damage to the outside of a tooth. A tooth can have damage to the outside of the tooth or damage to both the inside and the outside of the tooth. The treatment required all depends upon the amount of damage and the location of the damage.

Yes! If you are having dental concerns a consultation would be the very best place to start. Natural teeth are always the best option and loose teeth could be an indication of various degrees of gum disease which may be treatable. Dentures are the final option once you run out of other choices. A physical examination of the teeth as well as radiographs/X-rays and measurements regarding gum tissue health would be needed in order to make a determination of what choices might be best for you. The consultation should be able to give you some choices and complete dentures may be part of the solution.