What are advantages and disadvantages of full gold crown, porcelain fused metal crown and full porcelain crown?
Advantages of gold crowns:
- Alloys that have a high gold content are typically very workable metals (they have favorable physical properties). This characteristic can aid a dentist in achieving a very precise crown-to-tooth fit. (There’s more information about this topic at the link above.)
- Gold crowns (and metal crowns in general) are very strong and can be expected to withstand even the heaviest biting and chewing forces well. They will not chip. It would be uncharacteristic for a gold crown to break. And of all of the different types of dental crowns, gold crowns probably have the greatest potential for lasting the longest.
- The gold alloys that are used to make dental crowns have a wear rate that is about the same as tooth enamel. This means that a gold crown won’t create excessive wear on the teeth that oppose it (the teeth that it bites against).
Disadvantages of gold crowns
- The metal that lies underneath the crown’s porcelain can sometimes be visualized as a dark line found right at the crown’s edge. A dentist will usually try to position this dark edge just underneath the tooth’s gum line. But, if a person’s gums happen to recede, this dark line can show, thus spoiling the crown’s appearance.
- While the cosmetic appearance of PFM crowns can be excellent, they often are not as aesthetically pleasing as all-ceramic ones.
- It’s possible that the porcelain on a PFM crown will chip or break off. It’s very difficult to make a lasting repair in this type of situation. The most predictable solution is typically making a new crown.
- The porcelain surface of a PFM crown can create (possibly significant) wear on those teeth that it bites on or can rub against.
Full gold crowns are thinner therefore require less tooth structure reduction but the gold color will stand out. Porcelain fused metal crowns are tooth colored so more esthetic but they require more tooth structure reduction. Full porcelain crowns are the most esthetic looking of the three but the all porcelain structure can be fragile and relatively easier to crack.