A permanent crown. One visit. No temporaries.
We scan your tooth digitally, design the crown chairside, and mill it from a solid ceramic block with CEREC Primemill, then bond it the same afternoon. About two hours, start to finish.
- ~2 hours start to finish
- No goopy impressions
- Backed by our warranty
How it works.
Digital scan
A small wand maps your tooth in minutes. No trays, no gagging.
Chairside design
We shape the crown on screen with you, matching bite and shade.
Milled in minutes
Primemill carves it from one ceramic block while you wait.
Placed today
Bonded, polished, and checked before you walk out. Eat normally tonight.
The second appointment is the part nobody likes
The traditional crown process has always had the same weak point. You come in, the tooth gets prepped, an impression is taken, and a temporary crown gets cemented on. Then you wait two or three weeks for the lab.
During those weeks, the temporary is the thing you are managing. It is not shaped like your tooth. It is sensitive to cold. It can come loose in a bagel, and then you are calling the office from your car. And at the end of it you take another half day off work to come back and do the appointment you thought you already had.
Same-day crown technology removes all of that. We design and mill your crown here while you wait, and you leave with the finished tooth.
What happens during a single-visit crown appointment
We scan instead of taking a mold. A digital scanner captures your tooth in detail. If your memory of crowns involves a tray of putty and a gag reflex, that part is gone.
We design your crown on screen. The software builds the crown to match your bite, your neighboring teeth, and the way your jaw actually moves. Your dentist adjusts the shape before anything is made.
We mill it here. A milling unit cuts your crown from a solid ceramic block. This is the part where you read, answer email, or watch something. It typically takes well under an hour.
We fit, adjust, and cement it. Your dentist checks the contacts and the bite, makes adjustments by hand, and bonds it in. You chew on it on the way out.
Most crowns are good candidates for this. Some are not. Front teeth that need very specific layered shading, teeth with severe bite issues, or cases where a bridge or a lab-crafted material is the better long-term choice may still call for a lab crown and a second visit. We will tell you which category your tooth falls into before we start, not after.
When a crown is the right answer
A crown is a cap that covers the whole tooth and takes over the job of holding it together. You typically need one when:
A large old filling has failed, and there is not enough healthy tooth left to hold another filling. A tooth has cracked, or has a crack line that is causing sharp pain when you bite. You have had a root canal, and the tooth needs full coverage to keep it from splitting. A tooth is badly worn from grinding. Or you are restoring a dental implant, which finishes with a crown.
If a tooth needs a crown and you postpone it, the usual next chapter is a fracture that runs below the gum line, and at that point the tooth may not be savable at all. A crown is the cheaper problem.
Will a milled crown hold up?
Yes. Modern ceramic crown blocks are strong, and same-day crowns are milled from a single solid piece, which means no layering seams for stress to find. With normal care, crowns generally last many years, and most of what determines lifespan is not the material at all. It is grinding, hygiene, and whether decay starts at the margin.
If you grind your teeth, tell us. We make mouth guards, and protecting your crown investment with a night guard is far cheaper than replacing crowns.
Color is matched to your surrounding teeth at the appointment. Because we are looking at your actual tooth in your actual mouth rather than working from a shade tab sent to a lab, matching tends to go well.
What a crown costs here
Crowns at our Fort Smith office typically run $1,192 to $1,600 per crown, and same-day crowns are priced comparably to lab crowns. You are not paying a premium for the convenience.
Most dental insurance treats crowns as a major service and covers roughly half after your deductible, subject to your annual maximum and any waiting period your plan carries. We are in network with Delta Dental Premier, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, Aetna, MetLife, Guardian, United Concordia, Principal, Sun Life, Healthchoice, America's, and Assurant. We verify your specific benefits and give you the out-of-pocket number before we begin.
Without insurance, our Smile Savers membership applies here. Members get 20% off comprehensive treatment, which includes crowns, along with two comprehensive or periodic exams, two limited exams, all needed X-rays, two cleanings, and fluoride. It starts at $440 a year for one person, or $36.67 a month, with no deductibles, no waiting periods, and no annual maximum. For a household facing a crown plus routine care, the math usually works out quickly.
We also offer a Crowns Warranty at $360 a year, which covers up to two crown replacements in five years, free re-cementation, priority repair scheduling, and after-hours emergency visits at $250. If you have a history of breaking things, it is worth asking about.
CareCredit, Cherry, and Proceed Finance are all available, along with HSA and FSA.
What it costs.
A same-visit crown costs the same as a traditional lab crown here. You are not paying extra for the technology, you are just not paying for a second appointment, a temporary, or a day off work.
- Same fee as a traditional two-visit crown
- Most PPO plans cover crowns as a major service, typically around 50%
- Membership takes 20% off; we verify your benefits before we start
What patients say.
4.9 out of 5 across 1,139 Google reviews at our two offices.
Common questions.
How much does a same-day crown cost in Fort Smith?
Same-day crowns are priced in line with traditional lab crowns, so the single visit does not cost you extra. Most insurance plans cover crowns at roughly 50% after deductible, within your annual maximum. If you do not have insurance, Smile Savers members get 20% off comprehensive treatment including crowns, and the plan starts at $440 a year. We will quote your exact number before we prep the tooth.
Does getting a crown hurt?
The appointment itself is done under local anesthetic and most people describe it as uneventful. Preparing the tooth is not painful when it is numb. Afterward you may have mild sensitivity to hot and cold for a few days to a couple of weeks, especially if the tooth was inflamed to begin with, and that usually settles on its own. If you were in pain before the appointment because of a cracked tooth, the crown is generally what ends that pain.
How long does the whole appointment take?
Plan on roughly two hours from sitting down to walking out with a finished, cemented crown. That includes numbing, prepping the tooth, scanning, design, milling, and fitting. Compare that to the traditional route, which is two appointments plus two to three weeks of living with a temporary. Same-day crowns do take one longer sitting. Most people would rather do it once.
How long will a crown last?
With good hygiene and regular checkups, many crowns last well over a decade, and plenty last longer. What shortens that is grinding, decay starting at the edge where crown meets tooth, or trauma. If you clench or grind at night, a custom mouth guard is the single best thing you can do to protect the investment. Individual results vary.
My temporary crown from another office keeps coming off. Can you help?
Yes, and this is a common call. Come in and we will look at the tooth and the fit. Depending on what we find, we may be able to scan it and mill you a permanent crown that day rather than sending you back into another waiting period. Call the office and describe what is happening so we can get you scheduled appropriately.
Do I need a crown or will a filling do?
It depends on how much healthy tooth structure is left. When too much of the tooth is missing or cracked, a filling has nothing solid to hold onto and it tends to fail, sometimes taking part of the tooth with it. A crown wraps the tooth and holds it together. If a filling is genuinely the right answer, we will do the filling. We are not interested in crowning teeth that do not need it.
Request your appointment.
Four questions. Our care team calls you back within one business day. If you are in pain right now, call the office directly and we will get you seen.