Is There Any Way to Avoid the Circular Band Showing When Getting a Dental Crown?

You can not only avoid the grey band with a CEREC restoration but frequently a ceramic onlay is possible due to the technology.  CEREC restorations disappear in the mouth and allow you to more of your healthy tooth structure and enamel and are therefor more resistant to decay

Full crowns in ceramic materials will avoid the metal band but if the root is dark they can still have the dark band. It is possible to mask a dark root by creating a slot that is filled with light color composite into the root.  There are numerous tricks to enhance ultimate esthetics.

Yes there are many types of crowns. The circular band you mentioned is caused by one of  two things.  The vast majority of the time the band showing is the metal coping of a porcelain veneer crown or PVC. The PVC has been the work horse for natural appearing crowns for decades. The crown gets its name because the porcelain is baked on or "veneered" over the metal crown.  Traditionally the metal has a closer fit to the tooth than porcelain alone can achieve thereby reducing recurrent decay or cavities under a crown which translates to longer life. A dentist can eliminate the metal band showing by preparing a esthetic margin at the time of the intial crown prep appointment or by placing the margin subgingival (belove the edge of the gum).However this offends leads to the second cause of a dark band showing which is caused by the optical differences in tooth verses porcelain. By far the best solution is the new all ceramic crowns which have optical properties very close to natural tooth and can be indistinguishable from adjacent natural teeth to the naked eye.

There are crowns that are made of porcelain fused to metal (PFM's).  This kind of crown may have the metal showing along the gingival margin (the area that meets your gums).  If you'd rather not have this metal showing, discuss it with your dentist.  The prep can be designed so there is no metal collar.  All the best, Dr. Elizabeth Jahanian

Some dental crowns have a dark metal that is underneath the tooth colored porcelain . If the porcelain does not completely cover this dark metal, or the gums have receded and the metal is now exposed , then a dark ring will show.

There are many ways to easily avoid this from happening . With the new materials that we now have available there's no longer a need to have any dark metal underneath the porcelain . In other cases, the edge of the crown, which is called a margin, can we placed just underneath the level of the gum line so that the margin will not show.

A dental crown, also called a cap, is a sheath that fits snugly over the entire visible surface of the tooth, essentially giving your tooth a new surface. This allows it not only to give the tooth an attractive appearance, but to add support and strength. Most importantly, the crown seals the damaged tooth, protecting it from harmful bacteria .All-porcelain crowns are slightly more attractive than PFM (porcelain fused to metal),  crowns as they have a more natural luster, better color matching options, and will not show metal if your gums recede or if the crown experiences wear.

Thre is a way to avoid the metal margins.

You can have full porcelain crown when it comes to the front teeth. There is a very storng type of crown called Zirconia crown that is both, very esthetic and strong for the posterior teeth.

Beware-Teeth that are dark from old trauma or root canals are difficult to treat because you must mask the color.  We have stopped doing metal crowns on the front teeth years ago-If you have metal, you should replace it with one of the many options we have now with the new porcelain materials.  Unfortunately, if your tooth is discolored inside, you must rely on your dentist to hide the darkness and make it invisible.  Do your homework and put your trust into a dentist you feel can preform the task.  Ask to look at photos-much success-

As mentioned by the other dentists, the dark lines around your crowns near your gums are most likely metal collars of porcelain to metal crowns.  If this is the case any of the various types of all porcelain crowns or non metal substrate crowns or porcelain to metal crowns with porcelain margins would solve this issue.  If the gums have been discolored due to a reaction to the metal, they can be treated with a laser after the metal is removed if they don't improve naturally.  Now there is also a chance that darkness seen at the tissue level may be exposed roots which can also appear dark for a number of reasons and these can be masked with new crowns placing margins just under the tissue or sometimes with white fillings to cover roots at the edge of your crowns.  Let your dentist check these teeth out and give you the correct answers and options.

Dark bands around a crown are caused by the metal used under the porcelain.  This was used to provide strength for the most part. It is still used today and moreso, all porcelain crowns are used to avoidt this.  All porcelain crowns are just as strong as the metal-porcelain crowns and are more esthetic!  Talk to your dentist about the all porcelain crowns and you will be completely satisfied! 

The gray line on your crown could be from the metal collar on your crown if it is a porcelain fused to metal crown or it could be your tooth showing under the crown margin if it had a root canal and is starting to discolor.  In our office, we prefer to do an all porcelain crown so that we don't have the gray  line, and we are confindent that it is just as strong with the new porcelain material available such as Emax and Zirconia crowns. I would suggest that you ask your dentist if there are any alternative options that he could suggest for your tooth, especially if it is in the cosmetic zone.