New Hanover County · Since 1987
Dental Crowns in Porters Neck, NC
A crown covers a tooth that has lost too much structure to hold a filling. It is what keeps a cracked or heavily restored tooth in your mouth.
- Three doctors, one location
- Sedation available
- Most major plans accepted
- Written estimates before treatment
Understanding crowns
Teeth that have been filled and refilled over decades eventually run out of enamel to grip. A crown wraps the whole tooth and puts the chewing forces back through the root instead of through a fracture line.
Patients from Porters Neck
More than a third of Porters Neck is 65 or older, and almost nobody moves, vacancy here runs around seven percent.
Most of the restorative work we do for this community is second-generation: replacing crowns and bridges placed twenty or thirty years ago that have finally given out. The question is rarely whether to treat it, it is whether to keep patching or rebuild properly.
Vacancy here is around seven percent, so patients tend to stay with a practice for decades rather than years.
A lot of the restorative work we do for Porters Neck involves replacing crowns and bridges placed elsewhere in the 1990s.
Porters Neck Plantation and Porters Neck Village together hold much of the community's older population, and both are a straight run down Market Street.
We see patients from across Porters Neck and the surrounding area, including Porters Neck Plantation, Porters Neck Village, Poplar Grove and the 28411 ZIP code.
New Hanover County is the built-out core of the region, growing around one percent a year, with roughly 21 percent of residents over 65 and the highest concentration of employer dental coverage in southeastern North Carolina.
We will tell you honestly whether this is worth doing now or whether it can be watched for a year, and we will say which of your existing work is likely to fail next.
This is the kind of restorative work we do most: patients who kept their teeth a long time and now want a plan that holds for the next twenty years.
You may be a candidate if
- A cracked tooth, or one that hurts on release when you bite
- A large old filling that keeps breaking away at the edges
- A tooth that has had a root canal
- A worn-down back tooth that no longer meets its opposite
- A front tooth that needs both strength and appearance
From first visit to finished result
- Exam and x-rayWe confirm the tooth is restorable and the nerve is healthy.
- PreparationThe tooth is shaped, we take a digital scan, and a temporary crown goes on.
- Lab fabricationThe permanent crown is built to your bite and shade.
- Fit and cementWe check contacts and bite, adjust, then cement it.
Afterwards
Sensitivity to cold for a week or two is normal. Floss it, do not skip it, because the margin at the gum is where a crowned tooth fails. Come to your cleanings and we will watch that margin for you.
If getting to follow-up visits is difficult, tell us. We can often combine checks into fewer, longer appointments.
What it costs
Most dental plans cover crowns at a percentage after the deductible, often around half. Cost varies with the material and whether the tooth needs a build-up first. We run the estimate through your benefits before scheduling so the number you hear is the number you pay.
If you are on Medicare, note that it does not cover routine dental treatment. Many supplement plans include a limited dental benefit with an annual cap, and we will check yours before quoting anything.
In their own words
Hear from Dr. Carter Lee
Dr. Lee on fixing only what needs fixing, and what it is like to hand a patient the mirror after a smile transformation.
Questions we get asked
My temporary crown came off. Is that an emergency?
Call us and we will get you in. Keep the temporary if you can, avoid chewing on that side, and do not leave the prepared tooth uncovered for long.
Crown or extraction and implant?
If there is enough healthy tooth left to hold a crown, saving it is almost always the better call. When the tooth is split below the gum, it is not.
How far is your office from Porters Neck?
About 13 miles, or roughly 22 minutes via Market Street (US-17) or I-140 to MLK Jr. Parkway. We are at 1301 Physicians Dr in Wilmington, with parking at the door.
Do you see patients from Porters Neck?
Regularly. Porters Neck is part of our core service area in New Hanover County, and this is the kind of restorative work we do most: patients who kept their teeth a long time and now want a plan that holds for the next twenty years.
What are your hours?
Monday through Thursday, 8:00am to 5:00pm, and Friday, 8:00am to 12:00pm. Outside those hours, leave a message or use the appointment request form and we will come back to you with the first available time.
Dental Crowns · Porters Neck, NC
Honest dentistry, since 1987.
We will tell you what needs doing now, what can wait, and what we would leave alone.
- Over 50,000 patients treated since 1987
- Comprehensive new patient exam including oral cancer screening
- Three doctors and a long-tenured team
- Most major dental plans accepted
Been told you need a lot of work somewhere else? Second opinions are welcome and we give them straight.
Request an appointment
We reply the next business day.
Please do not include Protected Health Information. For anything urgent, call (910) 762-0958.
