A beautiful smile ranks very high when it comes to a personal asset. However, age and time has a way of reducing the impact of a smile. Teeth become stained, discolored and suffer small surface imperfections, all of which tend to lower a person’s esteem and before long they begin hiding which was once their big asset behind their hand when they smile. There is no reason for this; a dentist in Amarillo TX can help with cosmetic dentistry. Before a dentist can help return the teeth to a point where the individual once again enjoys having a good laugh there are a number of factors that the dentist must take into account, two common approaches to whiter, brighter teeth are dental crowns and dental veneers.
Dental crowns and dental veneers share a common trait, they are both customized for the patient and the purpose is to give the patient white, healthy teeth. With both approaches the dentist starts by taking an impression of the teeth in question; the impression is used to make a perfect duplicate of the patient’s current situation. The crown or veneers are produced in a dental lab, returned to the dentist and fixed to the tooth using special adhesive.
In this respect they are similar, in other respects there are significant differences. A crown is designed to encase an entire tooth, veneers are not. A dental veneer only covers the front part of the tooth, the part which is visible when the patient smiles.
In preparation for a Dental Crown in Amarillo TX the dentist first reduces the size of the tooth as well as profiling it. These steps are absolutely necessary otherwise the crown would be larger than the tooth being treated. In the majority of cases the tooth thickness is reduced by 2mm maximum. The thickness of the tooth when it is being prepared for a veneer is also reduced in thickness but only by about 1mm.
Dental crowns and dental veneers have different purposes. A crown is used when it is necessary to modify the shape of a tooth, crowns are also employed when teeth which have serious decay or have been broken need to be repaired. Crowns are used almost exclusively when the teeth in question are those which are used to chew and grind food.
Veneers are not designed to repair teeth, they are used on teeth which are perfectly sound but are discolored; veneers are also used to close gaps between the teeth. Whereas a crown covers the entire tooth, veneers only cover the front of the tooth and although the material they are made from is strong, it is thin. Veneers are not used on teeth that do the chewing; they are employed primarily on the front teeth which are visible while smiling.
