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Care / Precision / Confidence / Glenrothes / Fife /
Treatment
Crowns
A cover that fits over a whole tooth to hold it together. What it involves, what it costs, and what we take away to fit it.
What it costs hereFrom £595 what that covers
GDHTreatment
01
In short
Crowns in short
A cover that fits over a whole tooth to hold it together.
From £595 porcelain, from £625 metal-free.
The tooth is shaped down all round to make room. That cannot be undone.
You wear a temporary crown for the two to three weeks in between.
Visits
Two: preparation, then fitting
How long it takes
Two to three weeks at the laboratory in between
Anaesthetic
Local, at the preparation appointment
How long it lasts
Often ten to fifteen years
Can it be undone
No. The tooth needs a crown on it from then on.
On the NHS
On the NHS where a crown is clinically needed
02
Treatment
What it is
A crown is a cover that fits over the whole visible part of a tooth. Some people call it a cap. It is made in a laboratory and cemented on to what is left of your tooth.
A filling sits inside a tooth. A crown goes round the outside. That difference is the point. A tooth that is badly broken has thin walls, and thin walls flex and split when you bite. A crown holds the whole tooth together and spreads the load.
Crowns are made from porcelain, from metal, or from porcelain bonded to a metal core. Which one we suggest depends on the tooth, how much room there is, and how hard you bite on that side.
A crown does not treat decay or infection. It is a rebuild. Anything wrong inside the tooth has to be dealt with first.
03
Treatment
Is this right for me?
A crown is usually the answer when there is not enough solid tooth left to hold a filling safely.
It is often the sensible choice if:
A large part of the tooth has broken away
The tooth has a very big old filling and the walls around it are thin
The tooth has cracked, or aches when you bite and let go
The tooth has had root canal treatment, especially a back tooth
A back tooth has worn down and lost its shape
There is a trade-off you should hear before you agree, and patients are rarely told it. To fit a crown we have to shape the tooth first. That means taking a layer off all the way round the sides and off the top. It is often one to two millimetres. Some of what we take away is healthy tooth.
That cannot be undone. Once a tooth has been prepared for a crown, it will need a crown from then on. If a crown comes off and cannot be replaced, what is left underneath is a small stump. A crown is a commitment, not just a repair.
So a crown is not always the right answer. Where enough good tooth remains, there are choices that keep more of it:
A white filling rebuilds a small or medium hole and takes almost nothing extra away.
An inlay is a solid piece made in a laboratory that fits into the tooth, a bit like a jigsaw piece.
An onlay is similar, but it also caps the weak biting corners (cusps) of the tooth.
An onlay can protect a cracked tooth much as a crown does, while leaving the sides of the tooth alone. If your tooth suits one, we will tell you.
Doing nothing is a real option too, and sometimes a sound one. A tooth that is worn but not painful, with no crack and no decay, can often be watched instead. We will tell you what we think the risk of waiting is, and then it is your decision.
A crown is the wrong choice if the tooth is broken well below the gum, if the root is cracked, or if gum disease has left the tooth loose. Building a crown on a poor foundation wastes your money.
04
Treatment
What happens, step by step
Fitting a crown takes two appointments, usually two to three weeks apart.
Before we start we examine the tooth and take an X-ray. We are looking at how much tooth is left, whether there is decay underneath, and how the nerve looks. We match the shade at this stage, in daylight where we can, because the colour is fixed once the crown is made.
The first appointment takes about an hour to ninety minutes:
We numb the tooth and the gum around it.
We clear out any decay and any old filling that is failing.
If a lot of the tooth is missing, we build the middle of it back up first. That inner rebuild is called a core.
We shape the outside of the tooth so the crown has room to sit.
We take a mould of the tooth, or scan it with a small camera.
We make a temporary crown and fix it on with a soft cement.
The temporary crown protects the tooth and stops it drifting. It is not as strong as the finished one. While you wear it:
Chew on the other side if you can.
Keep away from sticky food such as toffee and chewing gum, which can pull it off.
Go carefully with anything hard.
Keep cleaning it. When you floss, pull the floss out sideways rather than upwards, so you do not lift the temporary off.
If the temporary does come off, keep it and call us. It is not an emergency. The tooth can move within a few days though, and then the new crown may not fit.
The second appointment takes about half an hour:
We take the temporary off and clean the tooth.
We try the crown in and check the fit at the gum, the look of it, and how it meets the teeth above or below.
You see it in a mirror before it goes near the cement. If the shape or the shade is not right, we send it back to the laboratory. That is what the try-in is for.
Once you are happy, we cement it and clean away the spare cement.
You may not need numbing for the fitting. Some people prefer it, and we are happy either way.
The bite can feel slightly odd for a day or two. If it still feels high after that, come back and we will adjust it. A crown that sits even slightly tall can make the tooth ache.
05
Treatment
What it costs
Porcelain crown: from £595
Metal-free crown: from £625
Each of those covers shaping the tooth, taking the mould or scan, the temporary crown you wear in between, the finished crown fitted at the second appointment, and the laboratory fee.
The price starts there rather than being one flat figure because teeth differ. What moves it is how much rebuilding the tooth needs underneath and which material suits it. A front tooth takes more work at the laboratory to match the teeth beside it.
Some teeth need other treatment before the crown, such as a filling or root canal treatment. Those are priced on their own, and we give you the whole figure at the assessment before you agree to anything. Root canal treatment on a back tooth starts at £475. An onlay starts at £495.
Crowns are available on the NHS where they are clinically needed. A single crown is £164.52 to £204.76 for patients who pay. Around 40% of patients pay nothing, including everyone under 26. NHS charges are set by the Scottish Government, not by us, and they are the same at every NHS practice in Scotland. You pay no more than £384 for a whole course of NHS treatment.
NHS crowns are made to a set specification, so the choice of material is narrower than the private range. We will tell you what is available to you on the NHS for your tooth, and what a private crown offers, so you can compare them properly.
06
Treatment
What could go wrong
A crown is a well-tried treatment, but it is not a small thing to do to a tooth. Please read this part properly.
Preparing the tooth cannot be undone. We remove a layer of healthy tooth all the way round to make space for the crown. It does not grow back. From that day on the tooth will always need a crown or something like one.
The nerve can die afterwards. Shaping a tooth stresses the nerve inside it. In a fair number of crowned teeth the nerve dies later, sometimes months or years later. The tooth then needs root canal treatment through the crown, or the crown has to be taken off and remade. This is a real and reasonably common outcome, not a rare one.
The tooth underneath can still decay. A crown covers the tooth, but the join at the gum, called the margin, is still your own tooth. Decay starting there is the most common reason crowns fail. A crowned tooth needs the same brushing and flossing as any other, and decay under a crown can be well advanced before anyone sees it.
Porcelain can chip or fracture. Porcelain is hard but brittle. A small chip can sometimes be smoothed or repaired in the mouth. A crown that fractures through has to be remade.
It can come loose or come off. Cement can wash out over time, or the crown can pull off with something sticky. Often it can be cleaned and cemented back on. If the tooth under it has decayed or broken, it cannot.
The tooth can be sensitive. Sensitivity to cold or to biting is common for the first few weeks and usually settles. Sensitivity that carries on is a sign we need to look again.
The colour cannot be changed once it is made. Porcelain does not respond to whitening gel. That is why we match the shade beforehand, and why any whitening you want should be done first.
The gum can recede. Over the years the gum can shrink back and show a line at the edge of the crown. On a crown with a metal core that line can look dark. It is not harmful, but on a front tooth it shows.
It will not last for ever. Crowns get replaced. Each remake takes a little more tooth, so a tooth crowned two or three times can run out of foundation in the end.
The tooth can be lost. If it fractures below the gum, or decay reaches too deep, the fallback is taking the tooth out. You are then choosing between a gap, a denture, a bridge or an implant.
We will tell you honestly what we think the odds are for your tooth. If we think a crown is likely to fail, we will say so rather than take your money.
07
Treatment
Who does this here
Principal dentist
Registered name
Tien-Yu Chang
GDC number
296929
Qualification
Grado en Odontología, University CEU San Pablo, 2021
Qualified in
Spain
Associate dentist
Registered name
Li Yang Yeh
GDC number
306420
Qualification
Grado en Odontología, University CEU San Pablo, 2021
Qualified in
Spain
Associate dentist
GDC number
329275
Qualification
Grado en Odontología, University CEU San Pablo, 2025
Qualified in
Spain
Associate dentist
Registered name
Chen Liu
GDC number
331071
Qualification
Dr Med Dent, Semmelweis University, 2025
Qualified in
Hungary
Associate dentist
Registered name
Cheng-Tsung Hsu
GDC number
320342
Qualification
Grado en Odontología, CEU Cardenal Herrera University, 2024
Qualified in
Spain
08
Useful answers
Questions people ask
01How long does a crown last?
Many crowns last ten to fifteen years, and plenty go on much longer. Some fail within a couple of years. What we cannot do is give you a number for your tooth, because it depends on how much sound tooth is underneath, how you bite, and how clean the margin at the gum is kept.
The crown itself rarely wears out. It is the tooth underneath that usually decides how long the crown stays.
02Will it look natural?
On a front tooth we take real trouble over this. We match the shade before the crown is made, and you see the crown in a mirror and approve it before it is cemented. If it is not right, it goes back to the laboratory.
A single crown next to your own front teeth is the hardest thing in dentistry to match, and we will be straight with you about how close we expect to get. Crowns with a metal core can show a dark line at the gum over time, which is one reason people choose a metal-free crown at the front.
03Does having a crown hurt?
We numb the tooth and the gum for the first appointment, so you should feel pressure and vibration but not sharpness. Tell us if you feel anything sharp and we will add more anaesthetic. Most people find the fitting appointment easier than the first one, and it is shorter.
The tooth can be tender and sensitive to cold for a week or two afterwards. Ordinary painkillers usually deal with it.
04What if my crown comes off?
Keep the crown, put it somewhere safe, and call us. Do not try to glue it back yourself, because household glues can damage the tooth and set the crown in the wrong position.
If the tooth and the crown are both sound, we can often clean them and cement it back on. If the tooth underneath has decayed or broken, we will need to talk about remaking the crown or a different plan.
05Can I have a crown on the NHS?
Yes, where a crown is clinically needed rather than wanted for appearance. A single NHS crown costs £164.52 to £204.76 for patients who pay, and nothing for the roughly 40% of people who are exempt. Those charges are set by the Scottish Government.
NHS crowns follow a set specification, so there is less choice of material. We will tell you what your tooth can have on the NHS before you decide anything.
06Why do I need a crown after root canal treatment?
A tooth that has had root canal treatment has lost its blood supply and usually had a large part of its middle removed. It becomes more brittle. Back teeth take heavy chewing forces, and a root-filled back tooth that is left with only a filling has a real risk of splitting.
A split that runs below the gum usually cannot be repaired, and the tooth comes out. Crowning the tooth is what protects the money and time you have already put into saving it. Front teeth are under less load and do not always need one.
07Could I have a filling or an onlay instead?
Sometimes, and if you can, you probably should. A filling or an onlay keeps more of your own tooth, and keeping tooth is worth a lot in the long run. An onlay caps the weak biting corners without cutting the sides of the tooth down.
It depends on how much solid tooth is left and where the weakness sits. We will tell you which options are genuinely open to your tooth, not just the one that costs most.
08What happens if I leave the tooth as it is?
It depends on why the crown was suggested. A worn tooth with no crack and no decay can often be watched, and we will happily keep an eye on it.
A tooth with a crack, or with thin walls around a big filling, is different. Those teeth tend to break, usually while eating and usually at the worst moment. If the break goes below the gum the tooth may not be savable, and a crown is no longer an option. Waiting can turn a £595 problem into a lost tooth.
09
Treatment
Next step
The first step is an examination, so we can see how much tooth is left and how the nerve looks. That usually means an X-ray. The answer may be a crown. It may equally be an onlay, a filling, or watching the tooth for now.
You get the plan, the price and the alternatives before anything is done to the tooth. Nothing gets shaped on the day you first come in unless you ask us to.
Call us to book an examination. A check-up starts at £45.
Or call us on 01592 348674 if you would rather talk it through first.
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Glenrothes Dental House2 Huntsmans Court
Glenrothes, Fife
KY7 6SX
Glenrothes, Fife
KY7 6SX