Durable Fillings
When a tooth is broken down, preserving the remaining tooth structure is very important. No artificial material is as good as your own tooth.
CRORs are able to add to the cohesive strength of a badly worn or broken down tooth. This is due to an adhesive material which can hold the remaining parts of a tooth together whereas traditional amalgam fillings actually wedge or split these portions apart.
CRORs are an excellent intermediate term option for teeth that are broken down but that are still essential for function or cosmetics.
Other features:
CRORs usually cover most of the biting surface of the tooth so that stress is distributed widely over the whole reconstruction compared to having the traditional stress focus at the corners of the filling or at the joins of the tooth and filling.
CRORs aim to replicate the dynamics of natural tooth structure. Natural tooth structure flexes slightly when chewed on, because chewing is never exactly in a vertical up and down direction. Any grinding motion flexes the tooth. CRORs flex along with the tooth to varying degrees.
The biting surface of the CROR is custom made to duplicate the cusps and fissures which are like a set of opposing miniature interlocking mountains and valleys of the original tooth. The purpose of these is to allow a more efficient chewing action with food being pierced by the mountains and pressed out the side of the teeth via the valleys and the cycle starts again.
CRORs can be manufactured outside the mouth and then cemented onto the tooth. This involves an impression of the tooth and may take several hours. Experienced practitioners may sometimes be able to produce these inside the mouth directly on the tooth.
CRORs provide an excellent intermediate term alternative to a gold alloy-porcelain crown.
Please see TLC Gallery for some examples of CROR white fillings.
Care Instructions for your CROR
Always keep your CROR as clean as possible with brushing and flossing, especially around the tooth to filling junction and the gum margin.
CRORs may need to be glazed and the bite may need refining after your mouth and muscles become accustomed to it.
Rinse your mouth with water after any fizzy, alcoholic or acidic drinks as these will affect the CROR if immersed for too long.
Avoid biting too hard or too suddenly, because although the CROR material is very high strength, it is not as strong as natural tooth structure or gold.
Colour may change over the next ten years and so the CROR may require a reglaze and repolish.