Crowns and Veneers: How Do They Differ?
Dental crowns and veneers are a couple of well-known terms in dentistry because they serve as crucial techniques for dental restoration. Unfortunately, veneers and crowns are not interchangeable restorations for damaged teeth.
Although these restorations improve the function and shape of the damaged or misshapen tooth, both have specific applications. Whether you want a dental crown or veneer to restore the appearance and functionality of your tooth condition of your teeth determines which restoration you can have over it.
Are there differences between dental crowns and veneers? Here are some differences between the two, which we describe in this article.
Variations between Dental Crowns and Veneers
Dental veneers in Fairfield, CT, are ultra-thin shells of porcelain bonded over the front surfaces of your front teeth, most visible when smiling. The surfaces help improve the aesthetic appearance of your teeth to complement your smile.
In contrast, dental crowns in Fairfield, CT, help cover a severely damaged or decayed tooth by encasing it entirely and customized from metals, porcelain fused to metal, ceramic, et cetera.
You can use these restorative materials to cover discolored and crooked teeth, misshapen teeth, chipped or cracked teeth, or protect a weakened tooth needing reinforcement against further damage by your mouth bacteria.
Veneers and crowns are color matched to the existing shade of your teeth except for metal crowns that appear different.
Which Option Best Suits Your Needs?
If you have aesthetic defects on your front teeth impacting your smile, you benefit by getting dental veneers near you to cover the front surface of the damaged tooth. When applying dental veneers to your teeth, the shells are bonded onto the front-facing incisors or canines, costing twice as much as dental crowns because they are wafer-thin shells customized from porcelain to primarily enhance the appearance of your front teeth to complement your smile.
In contrast, dental crowns near you help encase a severely damaged or decayed molar or pre-molar from sustaining additional damage by encasing it entirely, restoring its strength, size, shape, and functionality. Although you might think dental crowns don’t support aesthetic purposes, you find it beneficial and cost-effective to have a dental crown cover a front tooth damaged or discolored because of infections or injuries. Therefore, even as dental crowns’ responsibility is to restore damaged molars’ function, they are also helpful for aesthetic purposes.
The Procedure for Getting Tooth Restorations
The optimal technique to restore your damaged teeth is to visit the Fairfield provider to determine which treatment best suits your needs. The dentist in Fairfield will examine your teeth to ascertain the damage it has incurred and suggest the appropriate therapeutic technique for the tooth.
If you have a couple of misshapen or broken teeth in the aesthetic zone, the dentist will recommend dental veneers as optimal for your needs. The same applies if you have a severely discolored tooth because dental veneers can also help hide the tooth from view after they reshape it to accommodate the shell. If you are getting dental veneers on your teeth, you must endure at least two visits to the dentist besides tooth enamel restructuring to achieve your goal of having beautiful teeth on the front surface of your mouth. You receive temporary veneers over your teeth until the dental lab custom creates your permanent surfaces for bonding over your reshaped teeth.
After three weeks, you can revisit the dentist when the lab has returned your customized cells. During your second point, the Fairfield provider removes the temporary shells bonded to your teeth and checks the color and fit of the porcelain surfaces. Finally, the permanent porcelain shell is bonded to your teeth if all things are acceptable, using special dental cement.
Unfortunately, if you have an extensively damaged molar better restored with a dental crown, fixing your tooth requires extensive tooth structure removal to accommodate the dental crown. Your tooth cap is also customized by a dental lab indicating that you receive a temporary crown over your reshaped tooth until the crowning glory is custom created for your tooth. Approximately three weeks are required before having the dental crown over the damaged tooth.
The procedure for getting your permanent crown over your molar is similar to dental veneers. The dentist removes the temporary restoration over your tooth to check the customized crown for color and fit before finally bonding it over your damaged tooth with special dental cement.
Dental crowns help restore damaged and decayed back teeth with some tooth structure remaining. However, if you have most of your teeth intact and need the restoration for aesthetic purposes, the dentist recommends a dental veneer as the better option to give your teeth the desired shape.
If you think your teeth are damaged, you must consult an experienced professional like Dr. Dani dental — Pannese DDS, LLC, providing dental crowns and veneers to help improve the aesthetic appearance of your teeth or restore their functionality. Kindly consult the doctor today to understand which treatment best suits your needs.