Ceramic crowns are caps that entirely cover teeth and are made of 100% porcelain or ceramic. You may have noticed people with dark lines on their teeth where their teeth meet their gum lines--this is from crowns that are metal on the inside with just a thin layer of porcelain on the outside to cover the teeth. This is why all-porcelain or all-ceramic crowns were created--because they are as close to natural as possible. Regardless, the materials in a crown greatly effect their cost and quality. It is something well worth investigating.

Here is a list of some of the materials ceramic crowns can be made of:

. Procera: On the inside, this crown contains milled ceramic, but on the outside it is made of a more standard ceramic. Procera is very durable, which is one of its many advantages. Because the center is white, it is more natural looking than crowns with metal centers, but less natural than 100% translucent ceramic crowns. It is also easy for dentists to work with Procera because it can be held in place with regular crown cement without bonding.

. Lava: Lava is like Procera but the inner core is a more translucent zirconia. The color of both the inner zirconia and the outer ceramic can be controlled in the "cooking" process to prepare the crown. Lava can also be attached with easy-to-use crown cement.

. Feldspathic: This porcelain is a favorite of most cosmetic dentists because it looks beautiful.

. Cerec: Like Procera, Cerec is also made from a highly-durable, milled ceramic substance. Cerec is unique because it is milled by a computer right at your dentists office rather than out in an external lab somewhere. If you are not interested in waiting or want to cut the amount of visits to the dentist you'll make to get your crown, ask about Cerec. However, many cosmetic dentists do not like Cerec though because the color can not be as tailored and customized as other ceramic crowns.

. Empress: This ceramic-like material is really more accurately categorized as a glass. It is similar to the Feldspathic material, but Empress crowns are baked rather than milled and their color is cooked onto the outside. Empress rivals Feldspathic as the favorite material of cosmetic dentists.

. InCeram: This is a dense and durable aluminous porcelain. It looks great and is actually more opaque than the Feldspathic material. Another benefit of InCeram is that like Procera and Lava, it can be held in place with crown cement instead of requiring bonding.