Crown is a dental word with two meanings, and both are simpler than they sound.

In kid words

Every tooth in your mouth already has its own crown, the part you can see above your gum. It's called a crown because it sits on top, just like a tiny king or queen. And if a tooth ever gets hurt too badly for a filling to fix, the dentist can give it a brand new crown, a small cap that fits over the tooth like a tiny helmet.

The parent version

Crown has two related meanings in dentistry, and both can come up during a normal visit. The anatomical crown is simply the visible part of any tooth, the part above the gumline that does the biting and chewing, as opposed to the root, which is hidden below. Every tooth, healthy or not, has one.

A dental crown is a different thing: a custom-fitted cap placed over a tooth that is too damaged for a filling alone, covering and protecting what remains of the tooth underneath. For back molars, which do the heavy work of chewing, that cap is usually durable stainless steel. For front teeth, where the smile matters most, it is typically a natural-looking resin instead. Whether a particular tooth needs a crown at all is a call your pediatric dentist makes after an exam.

Where you might hear it at our office

This word tends to come up when a tooth needs more help than a filling can give it. Our restorative dentistry page walks through that whole ladder of repairs, and a crown usually sits near the top of it, often the finishing step after a nerve treatment has already saved a hurting tooth. The material is always matched to the tooth's job: sturdy stainless steel for a back molar built for chewing, natural-looking resin for a front tooth built for smiling.

If another word from a visit is still a mystery, the rest of the dictionary is right here.

Related words

Words that often come up alongside crown: filling, pulpotomy, enamel.