Are there alternatives to a crown?

1. Crown. Covers the whole tooth for the most protection.
2. Large filling. Keeps more of your natural tooth and costs less. Can work when the walls and chewing corners are still strong, and a crown is still an option later if the tooth needs one. See Why a crown and not just a filling?
3. Onlay (partial crown). Covers only the weak chewing corners, so more healthy tooth is kept. Onlays are more technique-sensitive, and if one fails, the tooth will likely need a crown anyway. Most plans treat an onlay much like a crown.
4. Watching it. Reasonable for some teeth, such as ones with small surface lines and no symptoms. Ask what signs to watch for.
5. Bonding or a veneer for a front tooth when the concern is mostly how it looks. These are often cosmetic, and plans may not pay for them.
6. Removing the tooth is rarely the better choice when a crown can save it, but it may come up if a tooth is too badly broken to restore. The gap can then be left open or filled with an implant, a bridge, or a partial denture.

• All-ceramic (such as zirconia or lithium disilicate): tooth-colored, used on front and back teeth
• Porcelain fused to metal: tooth-colored outside with a metal layer inside
• All metal (often gold): very durable and needs less tooth removed, but it's metal-colored

Each holds up well. Your dentist chooses based on where the tooth is, how hard you bite, and how it will look. Some plans pay for a tooth-colored crown on a back tooth as if it were metal, and you pay the difference. See Why did insurance only pay for a cheaper treatment?