Esthetic Crowns in Primary Dentitionreestablishing the Innocent Smile

Abstract

A problem commonly faced in day to day pediatric dental practice is the esthetic rehabilitation of a young toddler who has suffered multiple tooth loss subsequent to rampant early childhood caries or extensive dental trauma. A diversity of esthetic restorative materials is existing for restoring primary incisors. It is important to have knowledge of specific strengths, weakness, and properties of each material that will enhance the clinician’s ability to make the best choice for each individual situation. Crowns available for restoration of primary incisors consist of those that are directly bonded onto the tooth, which normally are a resin material, and those crowns that are luted onto the tooth and are some type of stainless steel crown with esthetic value. Many options exist to repair carious primary incisors, but there is insufficient clinical data to recommend that one specific type of restoration is superior to another. Operator preferences, esthetic demands by parents, the child’s behavior, and moisture and hemorrhage control are all variables which have an effect on the decision and definitive outcome of whatever restorative treatment is chosen. A variety of esthetic options are available for maxillary primary teeth but a few are available for mandibular primary teeth owing to its small size and closeness to the pulp chamber. This article includes the description of various available options for the restoration of primary anterior teeth, which would help a clinician decide for the right type of full coverage restoration.