EK Dental Surgery Tips: How can I improve my smile with porcelain veneers and crowns?
If you’re considering ways to enhance your smile and restore your teeth, EK Dental Surgery offers two great options in our crowns and porcelain veneers.
Both alternatives are popular, and both can give you great results.
Although both treatments improve the aesthetic appeal of your smile, there are some critical differences between them.
What are Veneers and Crowns?
Crowns and veneers are both forms of dental restorative and cosmetic treatment.
They place a covering on an existing tooth to upgrade its function or appearance.
The primary differences between the two are how thick the covering material is, how much of the tooth is covered, and how much original tooth must be removed to place the treatment.
Both of them, however, can substantially upgrade the appearance of a tooth.
A veneer, made of wafer-thin porcelain, is bonded to the front of a tooth. The porcelain is matched to the colour of your natural teeth.
Veneers are durable but hard, sharp, or repeated impacts can crack them or knock them loose.
A crown, on the other hand, covers the whole tooth. It can be manufactured from porcelain, metal, or a combination of the two. It is more durable and resistant to cracking than veneers.
Differences in tooth preparation
Veneers are a more conservative treatment than crowns. Less of the tooth needs to be removed to place a veneer.
Your Glen Waverley dentist will usually remove a thin layer of tooth enamel from the front of the tooth and will not usually need to touch the core or the back of the tooth.
Crowns require 60% to 75% of the visible tooth to be trimmed away before placement. This adds up to two to four times as much tooth reduction as veneers.
When are veneers the best choice?
Veneers can be the best choice when the issues you want to address are relatively aesthetic and minor.
This makes them excellent solutions to problems such as chipped teeth, small gaps between the teeth, severely stained teeth, minor cracks in teeth, and superficial misalignment.
In cases such as these, veneers can dramatically upgrade the colour and regularity in the appearance of the teeth.
Except in extremely unusual cases, once a veneer has been applied to a tooth, that tooth will always require a covering.
A veneer may eventually need a replacement veneer, or it may require that the tooth be further reduced, with a crown placed on top.
Veneers may not be as tough as crowns, but they are just as permanent as crowns, and veneers shouldn’t be chosen because of an idea that they are reversible or temporary.
When are crowns the best choice?
Crowns are typically used when there are deeper and often more structural issues with existing teeth.
This can mean badly broken or cracked teeth, or where root canal treatment has become necessary.
The crown helps keep the tooth intact and protects it from further damage that might require extraction. Once the crown is in place, it functions as the new outside surface for the tooth.
Another situation in which crowns are a better choice is if grinding has damaged the edge of a tooth.
A veneer covers the front of a tooth and does not cover or wrap around the edge. Teeth that have been ground down normally need crowns to upgrade their appearance.
Crowns are often excellent solutions for damaged teeth and can deliver significant changes in the shape and colour of existing teeth.
Just as in the case of veneers, if a crown is placed, the tooth will always require some covering.
Differences in insurance coverage
Frequently, patients don’t think about insurance coverage when they consider crowns and veneers, which can have similar effects on your smile.
However, veneers are generally treated as an aesthetic treatment and are far less likely to be covered by dental insurance.
Because crowns address both functional and aesthetic issues, they are more likely to be covered by your insurance.
Keeping your new smile perfect
With appropriate care, crowns and veneers should last for about ten years.
The porcelain used in their construction is reasonably stain-resistant, but without adequate brushing and flossing, it can still become discoloured.
Because whitening and bleaching don’t work on these restorations, it’s essential to maintain oral hygiene and good eating habits.
It’s also important to avoid damaging your crowns and veneers by biting on hard substances or using your teeth as tools for other than eating and smiling! Treat them well to prolong their lifespan and your beautiful smile.
Reasons to Smile at EK Dental Surgery!
EK Dental Surgery offers a wide variety of preventative and cosmetic dental procedures for patients of all ages and conditions!
Our dedicated dentists and staff work to give you the best care possible. At EK Dental Surgery, we can help you achieve tip-top dental health and a movie-star smile!
EK Dental Surgery is conveniently located on Springvale Road in Glen Waverley.
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Call us on (03) 9887 8787 or make an appointment online.
We are located at 230 Springvale Road in Glen Waverley.
