Implant Crowns
Understanding Your New Implant Crown
When we replace a missing tooth with a dental implant, there are two main ways we can attach your final, custom-made tooth (the crown) to the implant post in your jawbone:
Screw-Retained: The crown attaches directly using a tiny, hidden screw.
Cement-Retained: The crown is glued onto a post, much like a traditional cap on a natural tooth.
While both methods work well, screw-retained crowns are widely considered the safest and most reliable choice. Here is why:
[Dental Implant in Bone] ──> [Connecting Post] ──> [Crown Fixed with Tiny Screw]
1. No Hidden Dental Glue (Safer for Gums)
- The Problem with Glue: When we glue a crown in place inside your mouth, extra cement can squeeze down beneath your gumline. Because gums around an implant are sensitive, trapped glue can cause chronic irritation, infections, and bone loss around the implant over time (a condition called peri-implantitis).
- The Screw Advantage: A screw-retained crown uses zero glue in your mouth. Your gums stay clean, healthy, and easy to keep clean.
2. Easy to Maintain and Fix
- Future-Proofing: Dental restorations experience daily wear from chewing. If the crown ever needs to be tightened, adjusted, or polished years down the road, your dentist can simply unbolt it, fix it outside your mouth, and screw it back in.
- No Damage: With a glued crown, removing it usually requires cutting through the tooth, meaning it has to be completely rebuilt from scratch.
3. Great for Tight Spaces
- If you have a short bite or limited room between your upper and lower teeth, a screw-retained crown securely holds tight using precision threads, whereas glued crowns need a tall post to stick to properly.
How We Keep It Looking Invisible
The screw hole sits on the chewing surface or the back of the tooth. Once the screw is tightened, we fill that opening with a tooth-coloured composite — the same material used for ordinary fillings. It blends in, and no one can tell it’s there.
Patient Education Script: Screw-Retained vs. Glued Crowns
Why It’s Better (The Biological & Practical Advantage)
Think of your new implant crown like securing a heavy piece of furniture to a wall.
You have two choices: you can either glue it to a post, or you can bolt it directly in place with a tiny, precision screw. While glue sounds simple, screwing the tooth directly into the implant is the standard of care for a few important reasons:
- It Keeps Your Gums Infection-Free: When we glue a crown in your mouth, excess cement can get pushed deep under your gums where it’s hard to see or clean out. Trapped glue can cause chronic gum irritation and bone loss over time. With a screw-retained crown, we use zero glue inside your mouth, keeping your gums healthy and clean.
- It’s Easy to Maintain or Fix Later: If your tooth ever needs a minor adjustment, polishing, or a quick screw tightening years down the road, we can simply unbolt it, make the fix outside your mouth, and screw it right back in. With a glued crown, removing it usually means cutting through the crown and destroying it, forcing you to pay for a whole new tooth.
- The Screw Hole Is Completely Invisible: People often worry they’ll see a metal screw! Once the tooth is tightened, we fill the tiny access hole on the chewing surface with a tooth-colored filling material. It blends in so seamlessly that no one will ever know it’s there.”