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Dental Crowns For Kids In Louisville, CO

Dental crowns for kids in Louisville, CO come in 3 kinds at our office. A Hall crown goes on with no drilling and no numbing shot. A white crown shows no metal. A conventional stainless steel crown takes numbing and drilling, and like the Hall crown, it holds on better than a white one.

Every crown gives up something to get something. Your child's X-ray decides which crowns are possible, and you choose among those.

Mini Miners Pediatric Dentistry is a pediatric dental practice in Erie Commons, about 10 miles from Louisville. This page is for families in Louisville, Colorado, the Boulder County city, not Louisville, Kentucky.

The Crown Trade-Off: What Each Crown Asks of Your Child

Here are the 3 options for dental crowns for kids in Louisville, CO, and what each one asks your child to accept.

A Hall crown fits back baby molars. It needs no numbing shot and no drilling, because the decay is sealed under the crown instead of removed. It's silver. It's also more affordable than a white crown, and it takes 1 visit, or 2 when spacers go in first. Decay that has reached the nerve, an abscess, or too little tooth left rules it out.

A white zirconia crown fits front and back baby teeth and shows no metal. The trade is in the preparation: it needs numbing and the most trimming of the 3, all the way around the tooth. In return, the gum around it stays healthier than the gum around steel. A tooth that can't be kept dry while the crown is cemented, or one too short to hold it, rules it out.

A conventional steel crown fits back baby molars. It needs numbing, the decay comes out, and the tooth is trimmed, though less than for zirconia. It's silver, and it holds on better than zirconia. The only thing that rules it out is a family that wants white.

Our stainless steel crowns are made by NuSmile. The trade-offs above follow the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry's 2022 restorative guideline and the University of Dundee's Hall Technique Guide, written by the dentists who ran the first Hall crown trials.

The X-ray decides what's possible

A Hall crown depends on the X-ray. If decay has reached the nerve, a Hall crown is off the table. That tooth needs nerve treatment, such as a pulpotomy (baby root canal), before a steel or white crown goes on, and sometimes it needs to come out instead. Our X-rays are taken in the chair on a camera-style machine, so your child keeps watching the movie.

When a Baby Tooth Needs a Crown, Not a Filling

A crown replaces a filling when a filling is likely to fail. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry's restorative dentistry guideline names 2 cases for a steel crown. One is large or multi-surface decay on a baby molar in a child at high risk for more cavities. The other is decay on more than 1 surface in a child under 4, where a crown lowers the odds of treating the same tooth again.

We may recommend a crown when:

Decay is too extensive for a filling to fix
A baby tooth is badly damaged or broken
A tooth has had a pulpotomy (baby root canal)
A weakened tooth is at risk of breaking
Your child gets cavities easily and a tooth needs extra protection

A small cavity on 1 surface usually gets a filling instead, which our page on white fillings for Louisville kids covers.

Decay caught early is more likely to end in a filling than a crown. That's 1 reason we see children for a first dental visit by age 1, or 6 months after the first tooth comes in, whichever is earlier.

Hall Crowns: No Drill and No Numbing Shot

A Hall crown is a stainless steel crown cemented over a decayed back baby tooth with no numbing, no decay removal and no tooth trimming. That's how the AAPD's guideline defines the technique. Sealed under the crown, the decay is cut off from the sugar it feeds on and stops advancing.

It works on back baby molars, and only when decay hasn't reached the nerve.

What the Scottish trials found

The technique was tested by 17 general dentists in Tayside, Scotland. Each of 132 children aged 3 to 10 had 1 decayed baby molar sealed with a Hall crown and a matching molar treated with the dentist's usual restoration (BMC Oral Health, 2007).

After at least 23 months, 2% of Hall crowns had a major failure, meaning nerve damage, an abscess or a tooth that couldn't be saved. For the usual restorations it was 15%.
Minor failures, problems that could still be fixed, ran 5% for Hall crowns against 46%.
77% of children, 83% of parents and carers, and 81% of dentists who stated a preference picked the Hall crown.
91 of the children were followed for at least 4 years. Major failures came to 3% for Hall crowns and 16.5% for the usual restorations (Journal of Dental Research, 2011).

White Crown: What to Expect

We will offer dental sedation and use local anesthesia to numb the area around the tooth.
We will remove any decay present and shape the tooth for the crown as gently as possible using a special drill.
We will take measurements for a precise fit.
The crown is carefully placed and adjusted for comfort.
White crowns typically require only one visit. They can be placed on the same day as tooth preparation.

The Hall crown visit

The X-ray, taken in the chair.
The crown is selected, fitted and seated over the tooth with cement, usually by having your child bite down on it.
Your child feels pressure. There's no injection, and the Hall Technique Guide reports that most children don't find the procedure painful.
No general anesthesia is involved. If your child is anxious, nitrous oxide is available in every treatment room.

What a Hall crown asks of your child

It's silver until the tooth falls out.
The bite feels high on that side for about 2 to 4 weeks, per the Hall Technique Guide. In the 2007 trial, every child checked at 1 year had an even bite.
If the teeth touch tightly, spacers go between them before the crown appointment. The Hall Technique Guide leaves them in for 3 to 5 days, so from Louisville that's a second trip.
The AAPD lists it as an option when a conventional crown isn't feasible, such as for a child who can't manage numbing and drilling. It also says more long-term studies against drilled steel crowns are needed.
The guide rules it out for children with a heart condition that carries a risk of endocarditis.

White Crowns: Zirconia With No Metal Showing

A white zirconia crown covers a baby tooth, front or back, with no metal showing. We place Sprig white crowns. Sprig makes them from solid zirconia, a ceramic, in 1 tooth-colored shade.

The AAPD's guideline says zirconia needs more tooth trimmed around the sides than a steel crown, because the crown can't be adjusted. The tooth is shaped to fit the crown, which means numbing every time. The tooth also has to stay dry while the crown is cemented, since bleeding or saliva can interfere with the bond. A tooth that can't be kept dry is a reason to choose steel.

Zirconia wins on the gums. The same guideline says steel crowns hold on better and zirconia crowns keep the gum around them healthier. For zirconia crowns placed in a university clinic, it cites survival of 93% at 12 months, 85% at 24 months and 76% at 36 months.

Steel, zirconia and BioFlx in 1 trial

A 2025 randomized trial in BMC Oral Health compared the 3 crown materials we use. It followed 75 children with an average age of 6.3, 25 per crown type, for 12 months. All 3 performed acceptably, and the differences between them weren't statistically significant. Zirconia showed less plaque and healthier gums. Steel stayed on slightly better. The trial's zirconia crowns came from a different maker than ours.

The in-between white crown: NuSmile BioFlx

We also offer NuSmile BioFlx crowns, which NuSmile makes for back baby teeth. NuSmile describes BioFlx as a tooth-colored hybrid resin with no metal. It flexes enough to fit snugly, it can be trimmed, and it needs less tooth trimmed than zirconia but more than steel. It's the newest of the crowns we offer, and its published follow-up is short: the 2025 trial ran 12 months.

The white crown visit

Numbing. If your child needs more, our sedation options for kids in Louisville include nitrous oxide and oral conscious sedation, a liquid blend of Versed and hydroxyzine. General anesthesia is given in our office by a board-certified anesthesiologist.
The decay comes out, and the tooth is shaped with small instruments made for children's mouths.
Zirconia crowns come in set sizes and can't be bent to fit, so the tooth is shaped until a crown seats without force.
The crown is cemented, and the bite is checked and adjusted for comfort.
It's all 1 visit. The crown goes on the same day the tooth is prepared.

How Long Your Child's Crown Has to Last

A crown on a baby tooth has to last until that tooth falls out on its own. So the age at placement sets the target.

The ADA's tooth chart puts the age a baby tooth falls out at 6 to 8 for front teeth, 9 to 12 for canines, and 9 to 11 and 10 to 12 for the first and second baby molars. For a crown placed at age 4, that means 2 to 4 years on a front tooth and 5 to 8 years on a canine. On the molars it's 5 to 7 years for the first and 6 to 8 years for the second.

This page used to say crowns last 2 to 5 years. For a molar crowned at 4, that falls short by years. In the Scottish trial, 3% of Hall crowns had a major failure over at least 4 years.

Crown Visits From Louisville

Our office is at 61 Erie Pkwy, Unit 101, in Erie Commons at the corner of Briggs Street and Erie Parkway, between I-25 and US-287. From Louisville it's about 10 miles, roughly 20 minutes out CO-42 and north on US-287. Parking is free, flat and close to the door.

Trips for dental crowns for kids in Louisville, CO depend on the crown:

Hall crown: 1 trip, or 2 trips when spacers go in first.
White zirconia, BioFlx or conventional steel crown: 1 trip.
General anesthesia: treatment happens in our office, with an anesthesiologist from Mile High Anesthesia or Rocky Mountain Dental Anesthesia. After oral conscious sedation or general anesthesia, your child rests under adult supervision for the rest of the day. After nitrous oxide alone, school is fine right away.

Parents are always welcome in our treatment rooms. For general anesthesia, you wait in the waiting area once your child is asleep and join them in recovery before they wake. Your child picks a movie for the ceiling-mounted TV, and the chairs adjust for a child who can't lie flat.

We're open Monday to Thursday 8 AM to 5 PM and Friday 8 AM to 3:30 PM. For everything else we do for Louisville kids, start at our pediatric dentist for Louisville families page.

About Dr. Alison Grover

Dr. Alison Grover owns Mini Miners. She and her husband designed and built the practice in 2017. She went to school in Boulder, at Sacred Heart of Jesus and Fairview High School, and earned her undergraduate degree at Wellesley College. She earned her DDS and a general practice residency certificate at the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine, then completed a 2-year pediatric residency at UCLA. She is a board-certified Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry, which requires passing the board's written and oral exams.

FAQs: DENTAL CROWNS FOR KIDS

How long do dental crowns last for children? Dental crowns for children are designed to last until the baby tooth naturally falls out. Typically, White and Hall Crowns can last 2-5 years, depending on when they're placed and which tooth is crowned. Our crowns are made of durable materials that can withstand normal chewing and daily wear throughout the remainder of the baby tooth's lifespan.

Will insurance cover these crown options? Most dental insurance plans cover stainless steel crowns (including Hall Crowns) as they're considered a standard treatment. Coverage for white crowns varies by provider - some plans cover them fully, while others may only cover a portion of the cost or limit coverage to front teeth.

Our friendly Mini Miners team will help verify your insurance benefits and explain any out-of-pocket costs before treatment begins. We also offer payment plans to make all treatment options accessible to our families.

Does getting a crown hurt?With Hall Crowns, there's typically no drilling required, which means no numbing shots and virtually no discomfort! This makes them an excellent option for young children or those with dental anxiety.

For White Crowns or Stainless Steel Crowns, we offer different levels of sedation and local anesthesia so your child is comfortable and doesn't feel pain.

Does a crown require special care? Caring for a dental crown is similar to caring for natural teeth:

- Brush twice daily with fluoridated toothpaste
- Floss daily, especially around the crown
- Avoid extremely sticky or hard foods that could dislodge or damage the crown
- Continue regular dental checkups every six months
- The dentist will monitor the crown at each visit

What are the signs of a problem with a crown? While dental crowns have a high success rate, it's good to know the signs that might indicate an issue:

- Persistent pain or sensitivity around the crowned tooth
- Visible damage to the crown like chips or cracks
- A crown that feels loose or moves when touched
- Swelling or redness in the gums around the crown
- Changes in your child's bite or difficulty chewing
- For white crowns, any discoloration or darkening