Stainless Steel Crowns
Pediatric dentists sometimes use stainless steel crowns to restore back teeth when a normal filling will not cover enough of the tooth. They provide a strong, protective shell to prevent crumbling, fracture, or further decay. Stainless steel crowns require minimal care after delivery.
Please follow these simple instructions to care for a stainless steel crown:
- Please do not give your child any sticky, chewy foods, such as:
- Candied apples
- Chewing gum
- Fruit roll-ups
- Gummy bears
- Jolly Ranchers
- Peanut brittle
- Taffy
- Minimize or eliminate all carbonated beverages from your child’s diet. The carbonation may weaken the cement and the crown may come off.
- Keep the crown as clean as the day your child received it by brushing and flossing regularly, especially around the gums.
- If your child complains that the crown is loose or complains of pain, please call our office.
Occasionally, parents are concerned that a stainless steel crown does not match the color of the other teeth in their child’s mouth. Some manufacturers do offer stainless steel crowns with a tooth colored coating, but the doctors at Frederick Pediatric Dentistry have not yet been satisfied with their durability. We continually stay on the forefront of new dental materials to offer your child. If the durability of these crowns improves, we may be able to offer them as a restoration option in the future.
*For Crowns on Permanent Molars: When your child is an older teenager, a general dentist can often replace stainless steel crowns on permanent teeth with color-matched, permanent “porcelain to gold” crowns.
