Dental Information » Dental Crowns and Bridges
Dental Crowns and Bridges
Crowns (used to replace and cover missing portions of teeth) and bridges (mountains for artificial teeth attached at either end to natural teeth) were made of gold and used by the Etruscans 2,500 years ago. Crowns and bridges fell out of use during the Middle Ages and were only gradually rediscovered. The gold shell crown was described by Pierre Mouton of Paris, France, in 1746, and not patented until 1873, by Beers. The Logan crown, patented in 1885, used porcelain fused to a platinum post, replacing the unsatisfactory wooden posts previously used. In 1907 the detached-post crown was introduced, which was more easily adjustable.
Bridge work developed as crowns did; dentists would add extra facing to a crown to hold a replacement for an adjacent missing tooth. The major advance came with the detachable facings patented by Dr. Walter Mason of New Jersey in 1890 and the improved interchangeable facings introduced by Mason's associated Dr. Thomas Steele in 1904. The common problem of broken facings was now easy to fix, and permanent bridge installation became possible and successful.