If your child has a cracked tooth or a tooth that is severely damaged by decay, your little one's dentist may install a crown as a part of your child's dental treatment. Here are a few things that you can expect from a dental crown that is placed on a primary tooth.

The crown is not likely to be white.

A primary tooth will eventually be shed. As a result, your child's dentist may suggest an affordable crown option such is stainless steel, which is often used for primary teeth. Since stainless steel is not white like tooth-colored crown options, such as porcelain, resin or porcelain-over-metal, the crown may be noticeable in your child's mouth.

Still, if you prefer, you can request that your child's dentist present you with additional crown options that can blend more seamlessly with your child's other teeth.

The crown will be placed in a single day.

For most dental restorations in which a crown is involved for a primary tooth, the placement of the crown can be performed in a single day. For stainless steel crowns, a mold of your child's mouth is not needed, and the crown does not have to be fabricated in a laboratory. The dentist can simply place the crown material around the tooth and bend the metal to secure the crown into place.

The crown will be shed with the primary tooth.

As a primary tooth is shed, the natural crown of the tooth is dislodged from the mouth. Roots that are associated with the primary tooth are reabsorbed by your child's body. When the natural crown is lost, so is the dental crown that was applied to the natural tooth. No treatments or procedures are needed to dislodge the crown; its presence should not affect the normal tooth-shedding process.

The crown will need to be brushed as heavily as your child's other teeth.

Although the dental crown may be protecting the underlying tooth, it still requires your child to brush and floss as usual. Your child should not give less attention to the crown area when cleaning his or her teeth.

The plaque that can collect on a crown can affect the other teeth within your child's mouth. Adjacent teeth may become more susceptible to decay due to the plaque covering a dental crown.

To learn more about dental crowns for primary teeth, schedule a consultation with a pediatric dentist in your area.