Cap vs crown: is there a difference?
They are the same thing. "Cap" is what patients say and "crown" is what dentists write. Neither is more correct, and no clinic should quote you differently for one over the other.
The question worth asking is which material, because that changes the price by a factor of four and the appearance considerably.
The four materials, plainly
- Strong, long-serving, and the budget choice for back teeth. Its weakness is a grey line that appears at the gum as the gum recedes over the years.
- Very strong, no metal, no grey line. Our default for molars and root-treated teeth.
- For front teeth where strength and appearance both matter.
- Best for visible front teeth; not our first choice for heavy-load molars.
How to choose
- Back tooth, cost is the priority — PFM is a sound choice and there is no shame in it
- Back tooth, you grind, or you want no metal — monolithic zirconia
- Front tooth, single crown that must match its neighbours — E-max or layered zirconia
- Full smile makeover across several front teeth — E-max, planned with a digital smile design first
- Known nickel or metal sensitivity — anything metal-free
What matters more than the material
The fit at the margin. A crown in the most expensive material available, with a gap where it meets the tooth, will decay underneath within a few years. A well-fitted PFM crown outlasts a badly fitted zirconia one every time.
This is why we mill crowns in our own German CAD/CAM lab rather than sending them out — we control the fit, and we can adjust and re-mill the same day rather than sending the case back and adding a week.
Book a crown consultation
Shade-matched in natural daylight, milled in our own lab.