Dental veneers and crowns are designed to improve your natural teeth’s appearance. While veneers cover just the front of your teeth, implants cover the entire teeth. But both dental restoration procedures have good success rates. So, if you are exploring options for San Diego family and cosmetic dentistry, you may want to consider dental veneers or crowns, depending on your specific dental needs.
How Dental Veneers Work
Dental veneers are thin porcelain shells bonded to your front teeth to improve their look. They let you keep your teeth mostly intact since the procedure removes just around half a millimeter of the enamel on your front teeth for bonding. Dental veneers can only effectively bond with your teeth if they are applied on a rough surface. However, if the enamel of your teeth is already too damaged, you may want to consider dental crowns instead.
Your dentist will take an impression of your front teeth from which they mold your dental veneers. When the veneers are ready, your dentist will bond them to your teeth with dental cement and UV light. Your veneers become permanent once placed on your teeth.
What are Dental Crowns?
Dental crowns are meant to cover your entire tooth. Your dentist will also file down your teeth’s surface to make it rough enough for bonding. With this procedure, the surface of your teeth undergoes more grinding than veneers to effectively cover the entire tooth. If you want to restore a decayed tooth, your dentist will get rid of the damaged part of the tooth before they place a crown.
In addition, dental crowns are molded from a physical or scan impression. They are made to fit snugly in your mouth. When your crowns are ready, they are placed and adjusted to ensure a correct bite before they are cemented into place. Dental crowns can move a little and may be adjusted further when they shift and impact your bite.
Importance of Teeth Restoration
A lot of people want to get tooth restoration to have an improved smile and oral health. Dental restorations can benefit those who have discolored or stained teeth, chipped or broken teeth, weakened teeth, extensive tooth decay, and crooked teeth. The kind of restoration you need determines whether dental veneers or dental crowns are right for you.
Your smile is what people usually notice about you. A beautiful and healthy smile will provide you with more self-confidence. When crooked, stained, or chipped teeth are forcing you to hide your smile, you should see a dentist and know if you can benefit from dental veneers or crowns.