Why do crowns and bridges require multiple dental visits?

They don't always! Traditionally, crowns or bridges need to be made by a lab technician outside of the dental office, because the materials required for strength can't be built directly in the mouth like fillings can. An impression of the teeth is made, and this is sent off to a lab for construction while you go home with a temporary crown or bridge for a week or two. However, many offices now use a CAD/CAM technique where the prepared tooth or teeth are optically scanned and a computer assisted design program creates the crown design. The crown is then milled and fired in a ceramic oven and is complete in less than an hour. It can then be placed in the mouth and you go home with a permanent crown in one visit! The most common system is called CEREC, and it allows the dentist to choose from a variety of ceramic materials for crowns, inlays, and even bridges.

Typically it takes two dental visits to fabricate a dental bridge. The first visit entails preparing the teeth, making a temporary bridge and taking a dental impression. A couple of weeks later, you will return to the dentist to remove the temporary bridge and the dentist will cement the permanent bridge.

Crowns and bridges are dental prosthetics, which take time to prepare. If your dentist decides that a dental prosthetic is necessary, they will reshape your damaged teeth, or the teeth on either side of a missing tooth, and then take impressions of the newly shaped teeth. These impressions are then sent to a lab where someone else will prepare your new prosthetic. In the meantime, temporary crowns will be used to cap your damaged teeth. When the new prosthetic is ready, you’ll have to go back to the dentist’s office to have it set permanently.