Zirconia crowns in Istanbul. Only where a tooth needs one.

A dental crown is a cap that covers the whole visible part of a tooth, from the gum line up, to restore its shape, strength and bite. It is cemented over a tooth that has been reduced in size to make room for it.⁴ Zirconia (zirconium dioxide) is a white ceramic that is milled from a solid block and then sintered at around 1,500°C into one of the hardest materials used in dentistry. It is the same family of ceramic used in hip replacements.

A monolithic zirconia crown is milled from a single block with no porcelain layer on top, so there is nothing to chip off. The colour is built into the block and finished with stain and glaze. A multilayer zirconia crown is milled from a block with graded translucency, so the biting edge lets more light through than the neck, closer to how enamel behaves on a front tooth. Both are made in our in-house lab from a 3D scan of your prepared tooth, milled overnight and finished by a ceramist the next morning.

What a crown does that a filling or a veneer cannot

• Holds a cracked or heavily filled tooth together so it does not split under the bite
• Protects a root-treated tooth, which is dry and brittle, from fracturing
• Rebuilds a tooth worn short by grinding or acid
• Restores a broken tooth that has lost a cusp or a corner
• Sits on top of a dental implant to replace a missing tooth; the crown is included in our €550 implant price

A crown is a repair for a damaged tooth. It is not a cosmetic surface treatment. For healthy teeth that only need a change of colour or shape, see E-max veneers, which remove 0.3–0.5 mm of enamel instead of 1.0–1.5 mm of tooth.

'Turkey teeth' are, almost always, full crowns placed on healthy teeth for cosmetic reasons. Someone wanted whiter, straighter teeth, was sold a 'Hollywood smile' package of 20–28 crowns, and had every tooth filed down to a peg so a cap could cover it. The viral photos of pointed stumps are what healthy teeth look like after crown preparation.

A crown preparation removes around 63–72% of the tooth above the gum; a veneer preparation removes 3–30%.³ On a damaged tooth that structure is already gone, so a crown costs the tooth nothing extra. On a healthy tooth the loss is the whole price, paid for life: a higher chance that the nerve dies and needs root canal treatment, gums that have to live with 20 new margins, and a cycle of replacement crowns every 10–15 years, each one taking a little more tooth. UK dental bodies have warned patients about exactly this.⁵⁶

Our policy

• No crowns on healthy teeth. If a tooth is healthy and you want it whiter or straighter, we offer whitening, aligners, bonding or veneers. If you ask us to crown a healthy tooth anyway, we decline.
• Every crown is justified in writing. Your plan names the tooth, shows it on your X-ray and says why a filling, an onlay or a veneer is not enough.
• Mixed plans are normal. A typical smile makeover here might be 8 veneers and 2 crowns: crowns on the two root-treated teeth, veneers on the rest. The Hollywood smile page explains how we design a full smile without crowning healthy teeth.
• Natural shades by default. Most patients choose BL2–BL3 or A1, matched to the teeth we are not treating, rather than a flat BL1 white.

Well-made zirconia crowns typically last 10–15 years or more, and many go well beyond that. In systematic reviews, around 92–96% of ceramic single crowns are still in place at 5 years, and the complication that most often shortens a crown's life, chipping of a porcelain layer, does not apply to monolithic zirconia.¹² What usually ends a crown is not the crown itself but the tooth under it: decay at the margin, or a nerve that dies.

Our 10-year written warranty covers fracture, debonding and a margin that fails under normal use. It does not cover a tooth that decays under a crown because it was not cleaned, so the list below matters.

Aftercare that makes the difference

1. Brush twice a day, paying attention to the gum line where the crown meets the tooth.
2. Clean between teeth daily with floss or interdental brushes. A crown's edge is where decay starts.
3. Wear your night guard if you clench or grind. Zirconia survives it, but the opposing teeth and the cement joint may not.
4. Do not use crowned teeth as tools: no ice, nutshells or bottle caps.
5. See a dentist every 6–12 months, with an X-ray of the margins every 2–3 years. We send your records to your own dentist or to one of our partner dentists in the UK, Germany or the Netherlands.

If a crown chips or comes loose at home, message your coordinator with a photo. We arrange a video review within 48 hours. A loose crown can usually be recemented by any dentist in 20 minutes; a remake under warranty is done here, with your flights and hotel covered.

Most crowns are fitted without any problem beyond a few days of sensitivity. The risks below are real, though, and you should hear them from us before the drill starts.

• Sensitivity. Hot and cold sensitivity for a few days to a few weeks is common after preparation and again after cementing. It settles on its own in most cases.
• Nerve irritation. Preparing a tooth heats and stresses the nerve. Most recover. Studies suggest roughly 10–15% of crowned live teeth need root canal treatment within 10 years. If it happens, the root canal can usually be done through a small opening in the crown without replacing it.
• Chipping. Monolithic zirconia almost never chips. Layered porcelain on zirconia or metal does, which is why we use monolithic designs on back teeth and for anyone who grinds.¹
• Margins and gums. A crown edge that is rough, over-contoured or sits too deep inflames the gum. We check every margin with an X-ray at the try-in and keep edges at or just below the gum line.
• Wear on opposing teeth. Polished zirconia is kind to enamel; rough or badly glazed zirconia is not. Every crown leaves our lab polished, and we check your bite again before you fly.
• Debonding. A crown can come loose, usually years later, if the cement washes out or decay undermines it. It is recemented or remade.
• Bite changes. A crown that is a fraction too high causes jaw ache within days. We adjust it before you leave, and any dentist at home can refine it in minutes.

If you grind your teeth

Bruxism is the single biggest threat to any crown. Tell us, or let us see the wear facets on your scan. We will choose monolithic zirconia, design a flatter biting surface and give you a night guard, included in your plan.

Yes, at a licensed clinic with specialists who refuse to crown healthy teeth. The material and the technique are the same as in the UK. The difference abroad is the range of standards, from excellent to harmful, so the checks below matter more than the price.⁵⁶

What to check, and what we offer

• Licensing. Denture is licensed and audited by the Turkish Ministry of Health and certified to ISO 9001:2015. We have treated patients from 40+ countries since 2009.
• Who treats you. Crowns here are planned and fitted by a specialist prosthodontist, named in your plan.
• Diagnosis before quote. We do not quote a crown without an X-ray. Send your existing X-rays, or we take them on day 1 and confirm the plan before any tooth is prepared.
• Materials you can trace. Your warranty certificate lists the zirconia block brand and batch number for every crown.
• A fixed, itemised price. Per tooth, in writing, including root canals and posts where needed. It does not change when you arrive.
• Warranty with travel. 10 years in writing. If a crown fails under warranty, the remake, your flights and your hotel are covered.
• Aftercare at home. Video reviews within 48 hours and partner dentists in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands for anything that needs hands.

Why cheap quotes are often not cheap

A low per-crown price that leaves out the root canal, the post, the temporary or the try-in becomes a different number in the chair. Compare the total for your named teeth with everything included, and ask what happens, and who pays, if a crown fails after you fly home.