A crown in dogs is a metal covering of the tooth. It is usually made of metal and conformes exactly to the tooth it is covering. Making a crown is a complicated process. As you can imagine your dog is not going to sit still and open and close it’s mouth when the veterinary dentist tells it to do so. Therefore a general anesthetic is needed. The first step is to treat the tooth first – this might be with a root canal. Then the tooth needs to be prepared and impressions of the mouth need to be made. These impressions of the top and bottom jaws are used to check that the mouth can open and close without the affected tooth hitting other teeth and causing pain to the pet.
A detailed impression is made of the prepared tooth which is sent to the dental technician with the full mouth impressions and a metal crown is fabricated (made up). This is cemented onto the tooth to protect it.
To put a crown on a tooth at least two anesthetics will be needed – one to prepare the tooth and take impressions and the next one to apply the crown to the tooth.
For more information please refer to Healthy Mouth, Healthy Pet: Why Dental Care Matters. Available at Amazon, AAHA and VIN book stores.