Teenage Crown Plastic or Porcelain

There are many choices for a teenager-I strongly suppest you start with as conservative an option as possible because this tooth will need to last for many years.  Your teenager will redo this tooth as he grows up.  My number one choice at this young age is direct 'bonding' on the broken tooth with a plastic fill/crown. Later, options can include porcelain.  So many issues can arise, including needing a root canal because of nerve damage as well as orthodontic treatment if the tooth is out of alignment.  By going conservative you leave him with options as he grows and needs further care.

A good transitional solution may be to use bonding or composite resin which is like a filling. This may last a few years until hes around 16-18.  Sure you may have to repair it or redo it once. Once he's around 17, you can go for the Porcelain. I have also had good success re-bonding the fractured piece (if you stil have it).

A lab-made plastic crown will work fine, but in my opinion its not worth it because I have to do the same amount of work as for a porcelain, the only thing cheaper is the lab cost and this may be a $100 or so difference. An office-made plastic crown is considered a temporary crown and this will likely break, fall off or leak and cause a cavity.

I say bonding or porcelain.

Hope this helps

Dr. T 

I agree with the other doctors that a porcelain crown would be best knowing that in the future you more than likely will have to replace it when he has stopped growing.  Acrylics tend to discolor and can leak.  Good luck with you decision. 

You did not mention which tooth was broken off, so I wlll assume it is a front tooth.  I would suggest that you invest in a porcelain crown and not an acrylic.  An acrylic crown can be made in your dental office and is a temporary fix until your lab makes a permanent one.I would suggest porcelain. They provide the best natural color match with the rest of the teeth. Also, I realize 13 is young, but a boy who is 13 is facing a lot of changes as a teenager and I would make sure his teeth looked good, giving him a good start in feeling good about himself and his smile!

Based on your description, your son had most likely after the injury of the tooth the "root canal" treatment. In order to prevent the future bacterial leakage inside the canal and re-infectioning of the tooth, it has to be covered by the permanent crown withing next 3 months. Otherwise, the risk of re-doing root canal filling will be very high and success of endodontic retreatment will not be high according to the research. In the situation like that, it will be a better option to cover to tooth with permanently cemented porcelain crown.

I would go with a porcelain crown.  Acrylic crowns tend to wear, discolor and leak.  There are different levels of quality of Porcelain crowns so if you went with a lower level on to save on the cost now I would do that.  You should be able to get a decent-looking crown or all porcelain for about 6-800 dollars.  This would look good and not leak and last till you did the final crown later on.