Dental Restorations: The Difference between Fillings and CrownsBy Timothy Gillespie

Introduction• General and cosmetic dentist Timothy Gillespie,

DMD, serves patients in and around the Asheville, North Carolina, area. Dr. Timothy Gillespie provides routine services that restore damaged and diseased teeth. While fillings and crowns are both considered common restorations, they are quite different from one another.

A filling is a small restoration that repairs a small, localized area of decay. Fillings may be made of amalgam (a compound of metals) or composite resin, a tooth-colored mixture of plastic and glass.

Fillings and Crowns• Not only does a filling restore a tooth to its proper

size, it helps prevent further damage by strengthening tooth structure and preventing a cavity from deepening.

Dental crowns are a more extensive restoration. A crown is essentially a tooth-shaped cap that fits over the entire portion of tooth structure above the gums. Like fillings, crowns can be made from different materials but all permanent crowns are custom made in dental laboratories before they are placed.