April 13, 2021

A dental crown is a highly efficient treatment for restoring a tooth that has been damaged in some way, and it has a number of advantages over the alternatives. However, crowns have certain drawbacks that should be weighed when choosing the best care option for each patient. The key benefits and drawbacks of dental crowns will be discussed in this article.

Dental crowns have a number of advantages.

Dental crowns are a good alternative for a variety of dental issues. They have the ability to:

• Help a tooth that has suffered substantial decay.
• Protect a worn-down tooth from further deterioration.
• After a root canal operation, a tooth should be protected.
• Keep a badly fractured or broken tooth along with your fingers.
• Cover a dental implant with this material.
• Change the shape or color of a tooth to improve its appearance.

Dental crowns are a good long-term choice because they are robust and typically last at least 5-15 years, increasing patient satisfaction with the procedure.

When compared to other dental repair procedures or no procedure at all, dental crowns have a high success rate. Various analytical studies that looked at their use have backed this up.

Dental Crowns Have Drawbacks

Dental crowns, on the other hand, have certain drawbacks, such as the need to file the tooth into the proper form before the crown can be mounted. This is often severe and permanent.

Shortly after the procedure, some patients may experience discomfort, especially sensitivity to heat or cold. Brushing with a toothpaste made for sensitive teeth will help to alleviate this. Another problem is biting down pain or sensitivity, which is usually caused by the crown being too high and obstructing the teeth on the opposite jaw. Fortunately, this can be quickly corrected by adjusting the crown height.

Crowns, particularly those made of porcelain, are prone to chipping. Small chips can be repaired without removing the crown, but larger or numerous breaks in the crown can necessitate its replacement.

The dental cement used to keep the crown in place can wash away in some patients. This can lead to the crown being loose, allowing bacteria to invade the tooth and cause tooth decay. Occasionally, the crown will fall out entirely, typically due to an improper fit or inadequate dental cement to keep the crown in place, necessitating crown refitting or replacement.

An allergic reaction to porcelain or one of the metals used to make the crown is rare.

Dental crowns are more costly than other types of direct tooth restorations, which may be a deterrent for some patients. The cost varies depending on the crown’s content (for example, porcelain crowns are more costly than gold crowns) and can vary from $800 to $1500 per crown.

Considering the Benefits and Drawbacks

For each patient, the costs and advantages of a dental crown should be weighed to ensure that the correct advice and treatment is followed.

When restoring a missing tooth between healthy adjacent teeth, for example, a bridge with crowns is more durable than removable partial dentures. However, if funds are available, implants are now widely regarded as a safer option than crowns because they do not damage healthy adjacent teeth and pose a lower risk of infection underneath the bridge.

As a result, if a patient has the financial means, a dental implant could be the best choice. Dental crowns with a bridge could be the best choice if they want a long-lasting but less expensive solution.

It’s important to understand the procedure’s goal and determine the best course of action in the patient’s best interests.

Although ALS is an incurable and fatal disease, in the last 20 years, new drugs and therapies have been developed that slow its progression and improve patients’ quality of life. Their fight continues.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a degenerative disease that affects motor neurons, responsible for controlling voluntary muscles’ movement. Therefore, it affects the extremities’ muscles initially and even paralysis, subsequently affecting the voice, swallowing, and the ability to breathe. Characteristically, the intellectual capacity remains intact.

Of all the diseases of this type, ALS is the most frequent. Its incidence is approximately three out of every 100,000 people a year, and it affects men more, with an average age of onset of the disease of about 56 years.

A multidisciplinary approach to ALS to improve the patient’s life

It is currently an incurable disease, with a mean survival of around 3-5 years from diagnosis. Only 10% of patients survive more than ten years with ALS. These cases of longer survival tend to be of earlier onset and predominantly muscular and non-bulbar involvement. The end of the disease almost always occurs due to respiratory failure as a consequence of this pathology.

There are two forms: a family of hereditary origin (in 5-10% of cases); and a sporadic, which is the usual form of appearance (in 90% of cases) and occurs randomly and without apparent cause. The SEN also warns that the disease’s diagnosis is usually delayed around 12 months in our country and that 66% of those affected receive alternative diagnoses before.

ALS requires a multidisciplinary approach that encompasses neurologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, pulmonologists, nutritionists, and other professionals. It involves a high degree of dependency, complications, and social health costs (around 50,000 euros per year).

Despite its progressive and irreversible nature, scientific advances in recent years have provided multiple medical, orthopedic, and social resources to minimize the consequences of the disease and greatly improve people’s lives with ALS.

Causes of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

The exact cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is unknown. However, it has been attributed to multiple factors such as aging, some viral infection, and heavy metal poisoning (such as mercury, cadmium, lead, and thallium). Only between 5% and 10% of ALS cases appear to be due to hereditary causes.

Among the advances in ALS in recent years, the emphasis has been placed on the chromosomal genetics of hereditary cases, attributing the disease’s cause to multiple mutations (more than 100). In some ALS types, the mutation of the gene encoding the enzyme superoxide dismutase 1 ( SOD1 ) on chromosome 21 has been more specifically identified. This enzyme works abnormally, altering the normal functions of copper and zinc in neurons and causing alterations in the structure of these.

Currently, there are two hypotheses, which have not yet been proven, but which should be highlighted as possible causes of ALS:

• Deficiency of some type of nerve growth factor.
• Excess of a neurotransmitter, called glutamate, outside the cells of the nervous system.

In these fields, research in recent years is being emphasized to try to better identify the intimate mechanism that leads to neuronal degeneration that ultimately leads to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.