Remember that the finished crown should restore this natural anatomy, and our job is to give sufficient room for material while preserving as much tooth structure as possible.

The tricky thing about preparing crown for incisors is that the tooth is an esthetic tooth, so the final prep should be balanced and with accurate reductions.

When reducing the incisal edge, there should be a 2.0mm reduction to allow for both the metal and ceramic. The angulation of the bur should parallel to the occlusal plane.

Step by Step

Step 1: Incisal Depth Grooves

I like to start off by reducing the incisal portion – 2mm clearance is needed here. To facilitate, you can use any long tapering bur and start off by giving depth grooves. 2mm is a lot of tooth structure, and giving depth grooves saves you time by eliminating the need to check every 10 seconds to see if enough tooth structure has been removed.

The direction of reduction is important – follow the rest of the occlusal plane.

Step 2: Connecting the Depth Grooves

Make sure that your angulation is still correct, connect all of the depth grooves but be also careful not to nick the adjacent tooth.

Now connect the depth grooves and make the incisal edge into one straight plane.