CROWNS, BRIDGES & IMPLANT CROWNS — GREENWOOD FAMILY DENTISTRY Trenton, NJ
Crowns, Bridges & Implant Crowns in Greenwood Family Dentistry: What Trenton Patients Should Know
A cracked back tooth. A missing molar you’ve been chewing around for months. An old filling that’s finally given out. These aren’t emergencies most people rush in for — until eating on one side of the mouth becomes the new normal. Crowns, bridges, and implant crowns solve three versions of the same problem: a tooth, or a gap, that’s no longer doing its job.
What Are Crowns, Bridges & Implant Crowns, and Why Do You Need Them?
A crown is a custom cap that covers a damaged or weakened tooth completely, restoring its shape, strength, and bite. A bridge fills the space left by missing teeth, anchored to crowns on the teeth on either side of the gap. An implant crown does something similar but doesn’t rely on neighboring teeth — a titanium post is placed directly into the jawbone, with a crown mounted on top once it heals in.
These are about as common as dental work gets. Crown placement consistently ranks among the most frequent restorative procedures performed in the U.S. each year, driven by old fillings that finally fail, root canals needing a protective cap, and plain wear and tear. Implant crowns are catching up fast too — roughly 2.3 million implant-supported crowns are placed annually in the U.S. alone.
None of this is just cosmetic. A tooth without a crown after a root canal is brittle and prone to fracture. A gap left unfilled doesn’t sit there quietly — neighboring teeth drift into the space over months, your bite shifts, and the jawbone beneath the gap starts to shrink from lack of use.
Your Treatment Options
The right fix depends on what’s actually wrong — a single damaged tooth, a gap with healthy teeth nearby, or a gap where an implant makes more sense.
Dental Crowns
A full-coverage cap for a tooth that's cracked, badly decayed, or weakened after a root canal. Usually porcelain or a porcelain-metal blend, shaped to match your bite and smile.
Traditional Bridges
Best when you have healthy teeth on both sides of a gap. Those teeth are crowned and used to anchor a false tooth, or pontic, suspended between them.
Implant Crowns
A titanium post replaces the missing tooth root directly in the bone, with a crown attached once healing is complete. No neighboring teeth are altered.
Waiting on any of these tends to make the eventual fix more involved, not less. A cracked tooth left uncrowned can fracture further and become unsalvageable. A gap left unaddressed lets surrounding bone resorb, which can rule out a straightforward implant later and push you toward a bone graft instead.
Our Crowns, Bridges & Implant Crowns Treatment Process
Consultation / Preparation & Impressions / Placement & Fit
Consultation & Exam
We evaluate the damaged tooth or gap and determine whether a crown, bridge, or implant crown fits your situation best.
Tooth Preparation
For crowns and bridges, the tooth is reshaped to receive the restoration. Implant crowns instead begin with placement of the titanium post.
Impressions & Temporary Restoration
Precise impressions are sent to a dental lab, with a temporary crown or bridge placed in the meantime to protect the area.
Final Fitting & Placement
Your custom restoration is checked for fit and bite alignment, then permanently cemented or attached.
Experience Stress-Free, Affordable Care in Greenwood Family Dentistry
Crown, bridge, and implant work can sound like a bigger undertaking than it actually is. Our team walks you through what’s needed and why, so there are no surprises mid-treatment. We know these procedures are a real investment, so we work with most major insurance plans and offer flexible payment options for patients in Trenton, Hamilton, and across Mercer County without coverage.
Don’t let a damaged tooth or a gap in your smile sit there getting worse. Call Greenwood Family Dentistry today at 609-587-6670 or visit our office to schedule your consultation.
PATIENT EXPERIENCES
What Our Patients Are Saying
FAQ's
Frequently Asked Questions
A well-placed crown typically lasts between 5 and 15 years, depending on the material and how it's cared for. The most common point of failure isn't the crown itself — it's secondary decay at the margin, the seam where the crown meets your natural tooth at the gum line. Good brushing right at that edge matters more than people expect.
Most traditional bridges last between 5 and 15 years, and bridges anchored to implants can go significantly longer — often 20 to 30 years — since they don't rely on natural teeth that can decay. The biggest factor either way is hygiene around the abutment teeth. Plaque buildup at that junction is the leading cause of early bridge failure.
Very. Long-term studies put implant survival at around 95% to 98% over a 10-year period, among the highest success rates in restorative dentistry. The crown sitting on top has a slightly lower 10-year survival, closer to 89%, since it's the part doing the daily work of biting — but replacing a crown on a healthy implant is far simpler than starting over.
Ignoring early discomfort or a slightly loose feeling instead of getting it checked. A crown that feels "a little off" when biting down is often a sign the fit has shifted or decay has started underneath — and catching that early is a simple fix. Left alone, it tends to progress into damage that requires redoing the whole restoration rather than adjusting it.
It depends on the situation, but implants generally preserve more of your natural jawbone since the post replaces the function of the missing tooth root. A bridge, by contrast, requires grinding down two healthy neighboring teeth to act as anchors. For patients who want to avoid altering otherwise healthy teeth, an implant crown is often the better long-term choice, even though it takes longer start to finish.
More changes than most people expect. Neighboring teeth gradually drift into the open space, which can throw off your bite. The jawbone beneath the gap starts to shrink from lack of stimulation, since bone needs the pressure of biting and chewing to maintain itself. Over time this can make a future implant more complicated, sometimes requiring a bone graft first. Left long enough, an empty space can also contribute to gum disease and shifting that affects teeth well beyond the original gap.
Your smile is worth protecting. Schedule your appointment today.
We serve patients from Trenton, Hamilton Township, Lawrence Township, Ewing, Princeton Junction, and the surrounding Mercer County area.
- 609-587-6670
- info@greenwooddentist.org
- 1902 Greenwood Ave. Trenton, NJ 08609
- Our Hours: Open Weeknights and Weekends