Emax Crowns: Everything You Need to Know About Ceramic Dental Crowns

Did your dentist recently suggest Emax crowns? If yes, your tooth might have some internal damage.

Emax crowns are dental crowns made entirely with a special ceramic material that's durable while also being aesthetically appealing. Often referred to as E-max or e.max crowns, they're generally used by dentists to restore the integrity of the teeth damaged due to decay and are often used as an add-on treatment after a root canal procedure.

Though they're often presumed to be a cosmetic solution to correct aesthetic issues on your front or anterior teeth, these special crowns are actually quite useful when it comes to reinforcing the structure of your teeth or protecting them from further damage.   

In this article, we’ll introduce you to the concept of crowns and how you can get full mouth Emax crowns, which are among the best solutions to restorative dentistry. 

Emax crowns: Recommended by dentists worldwide

There are several varieties of dental crowns (or caps) available, and though having options is good, picking the best of the lot can often be challenging. Your dentist can help you with this by suggesting the most suitable ones for your particular case. When considering the available choices, you should keep in mind certain factors such as the strength of the crown, aesthetics, and accurate fitting. You should also consider crown material. 

Some common dental crown materials include:

• Stainless steel – These crowns are pre-fabricated and mostly used on permanent teeth. They are meant to safeguard the tooth or filling from further decay.
• Metal – These crowns are extremely durable because they are made with alloys that contain gold, base-metal, or platinum. They can comfortably withstand chewing and biting and have a long lifespan.
• Porcelain-fused metal – While these crowns can be more aesthetically appealing because they can color-match to the adjacent teeth, the porcelain portion can chip off.
• All-resin – Though these crowns are less expensive, they aren't durable and can easily fracture over time.
• All-ceramic/zirconia – This type offers a natural, near-perfect color match and might be ideal for people who have metal allergies.

Most dentists consider Emax crowns to be among the best because they have an all-ceramic composition based on lithium disilicate glass, a material more aesthetically-pleasing and durable than other types of crown materials. Additionally, they also consist of quartz, phosphorus oxide, alumina, lithium dioxide, and other trace elements. An e.max crown ticks all the boxes for the restoration process. It’s a blend of strength and aesthetics, and it possesses several advantages over other types of traditional materials used for dental caps.

What are some of the benefits of opting for Emax crowns?

Emax crowns have several benefits over their competitors, making them an ideal crown choice.  

A near match for natural teeth

Emax crowns are partially translucent and give your teeth a natural look because human teeth are quite translucent themselves. Unlike zirconia crowns, they don't feel like you’ve put something artificial on your front teeth. By comparison, zirconia caps may look slightly opaque, which may be fine for back teeth, but when it comes to the visible front teeth, Emax crowns offer better aesthetics. Sometimes zirconia crowns are layered with Emax material to overcome this disadvantage. This technique adds superior aesthetics and strength to dental crowns.

All-ceramic prostheses are very durable

Unlike PFM (porcelain-fused metal), Emax crowns don't have any metal underneath the ceramic. In porcelain-fused metal crowns, the metal is covered with a thin layer of porcelain that results in a gray line of underlying metal visible at the gum lines. This doesn’t look natural.

Emax-based prostheses, on the other hand, look completely natural and just like your original teeth. Moreover, in comparison to ceramic zirconia crowns, Emax crowns are more durable and don't chip easily. They’re made using lithium disilicate glass ceramic, which gives them strength and helps them last longer. There are fewer chances of them cracking or fracturing.

The milling procedure creates the perfect shape

One of the advantages of Emax crowns is that they can be easily fabricated by CAD-CAM milling. CAD-CAM milling is a procedure used by dentists to give crowns the perfect shape and size that matches the natural teeth of a patient. In this technique, a digital impression of the teeth is made and then that impression is fed into CAD-CAM software. A customized tooth crown is then created.

Conserving the natural tooth structure

For better oral health, it’s important to have good tooth structure. Emax crowns are resistant to cracking, and very thin layers can be created, which helps conserve more of the original tooth. During the preparation, dentists don’t have to remove as much of the natural tooth structure, leading to greater tooth strength.

Multiple options available

Options like veneers, inlays, onlays, overlays, and short-span bridges are available for teeth restoration with the Emax system.

Although Emax crowns might be more costly compared to other solutions, they are still way ahead of the competition in terms of aesthetics and tooth conservation.

Dr. Michael DiTolla, DDS examines Emax in detail in this video.

How is an Emax crown fitted?

It actually depends on the condition of your teeth, but these are the typical steps:

1. First, the dentist performs an examination and cleans your teeth.
2. Then, using a small drill called a burr, the teeth are reshaped so that the crown can fit onto them.
3. Depending on the level damage or staining, a part of the tooth may be removed or drilled out. Sometimes the tooth reduction is negligible if you have very small teeth.
4. After this, the dentist takes a digital impression of your teeth with the help of a mold filled with dental putty. This is used as a cast for the fabrication of crowns.
5. For two or three weeks you might have to wear a temporary crown until the new one isn’t ready. The dentist completes the final fitting through dental surgery.
6. Lastly, after the fitting, the dentist does a final color check against the shade chart.  

Who can benefit the most from Emax caps?

Emax crowns strengthen existing teeth and improve aesthetics. People with the following oral health issues can benefit the most from them.

Stained teeth

If you have stained teeth, Emax crowns and veneers are a great restorative option for you. All-porcelain prostheses are completely transparent and chip-resistant. The Emax material will protect your teeth from stains caused by acidic and strongly-colored food and drink.

Crooked teeth

Anterior teeth are often crooked, but dentists can correct this problem with the help of Emax crowns, which restore the structure and shape of crooked teeth.

Post-root canal

Root canal procedures often leave teeth very fragile and brittle. The restoration of these weakened teeth is possible with Emax. Emax crowns are a great blend of aesthetics and strength.

Fractured teeth

A fractured or chipped tooth due to trauma and accidents can be restored with Emax crowns by providing strength and support for the broken tooth. Emax can help prevent the tooth from breaking further.

What is the difference between Emax and zirconia crowns?

Emax crowns are an all-ceramic crown system. They aren’t porcelain, but they lay on top of teeth to appear translucent. This technique gives teeth a completely realistic look that matches your natural teeth. It also provides strength so that weak teeth resist breaking or cracking, and the material is chip-resistant.

Zirconia crowns, though most commonly used by dentists, aren't as aesthetically appealing or as strong as Emax crowns. These crowns can resist more pressure than the zirconia crowns. In short, zirconia crowns are fine, but if you want better-looking and more durable dental crowns, you should go for Emax. However, you will have to pay a little more for Emax crowns compared to zirconia crowns.

Conclusion

If you’re considering getting dental crowns, you should ideally not compromise on aesthetics and strength. Emax crowns look and perform much better than most other dental caps out there, and that’s probably why most dentists recommend them. Emax is a solution that lasts for years and looks good day in and day out.

To sum up, here’s a comparative analysis of Emax versus other type of crowns:

FAQs

What are Emax crowns?

Emax crowns are dental crowns made with a special ceramic material called lithium disilicate that resembles natural tooth color and is also durable. While these crowns cost more than traditional porcelain-fused metal (PFM), they're worth the investment because they last a long time and are aesthetically appealing.

How strong are Emax crowns, and how long do they last?

The strength of the dental crown is one of the most important factors to consider when choosing crown material. Emax crowns score high in this regard and have a lifespan of around 10 years or more. They’re made of extremely tough lithium disilicate material.

The most important thing to note is that a single block of lithium disilicate is used to make Emax crowns. This ensures that there are no joints in the construction and the crown can withstand maximum pressure. The chances of chipping or breaking this durable crown are low. Its compression strength is quite high compared to other crown materials, and an Emax crown has the strength rating of 500 MPa, meaning it can resist very high pressure without cracking or failing.

Can Emax crowns be whitened?

Emax crowns may get stained with time if exposed to acidic food, wine, coffee, or smoking. While these stains cannot be cleaned with regular brushing and flossing, the good thing is that the stains don't penetrate the tough surface of the crowns so your teeth stay protected. You can opt for whitening treatments that may polish the natural color of your teeth, but those procedures won’t affect the color of the crowns. Once the crowns stain, the only way to make them white again would be to replace them.

Contributors:

Sukriti Taneja

Sukriti is a content writer specializing in the healthcare niche. She is an ex-software engineer who's given up IT for writing full-time. She's been writing for 7 years and regularly creates optimized and targeted content for multiple domains including health, technology, education, entertainment, and more.