Many of us want a whiter and brighter smile. This can be accomplished by several different restorative methods. Some of these procedures include: simple bleaching, orthodontics if needed or by restoring the teeth with veneers or crowns. Each treatment is used for specific reasons. If you are satisfied with the overall shape and appearance of your teeth. Simple custom tray bleaching can provide extremely satisfying results. However when teeth are out of alignment and you do not want to go through the process of orthodontics to straighten them, then crowns or veneers can offer another option. While it is ideal to align teeth with braces/clear retainers first, this is not always an option for some people.

Crowns and veneers provide excellent treatments to change shade, shape and position (to a limited extent) of the natural teeth. The question for most people is when you do one versus the other. The main thing that your dentist will look at is what is already existing in the natural teeth.

If the teeth have numerous cracks present, cavities or large fillings/fillings in between the teeth, a crown is a more suitable treatment. This is because the cracks or the fillings have weakened the overall tooth structure and a crown will provide a full coverage restorative option protecting the entire exposed tooth.

Veneers are excellent for teeth that are discolored, have spaces or mild crowding and may have chips or defects but are structurally intact with no cavities present. A veneer is a more conservative restoration that can straighten a smile but only covers the front of the tooth and therefore if a tooth needs to be rotated or aligned more than slightly, the overall tooth can end up feeling bulky.

This is just a brief overview of these two procedures. Visit Magnolia Dental to find out more if you are interested. We offer complimentary cosmetic consults!