Are Old Crowns, Fillings, or Bondings Ruining Your Perfect Smile?

Get Veneers and Let Your Smile Shine Through.

Are Crowns and Fillings a Permanent Solution?
It is inevitable that your old dental restorations will wear down over time and detract from the attractiveness of your smile. Although crowns and fillings are common for restoring the structural integrity of a tooth after a cavity, crack, or chip appears, they are not always the most aesthetically pleasing solution.

Take for instance Liz, a 45 year old patient of mine. To fix a chipped tooth, her old dentist placed a crown and told her it would be fine for at least 10 years. Quite the opposite! In less than a year, Liz came to see me because her crown had taken on an ugly discoloration around the edges, and it was obvious to onlookers that it was not her real tooth.

Why Do Dental Restorations Wear Down?
There are a number of possibilities:

• • Your dental restorations may have been placed without any concern for aesthetic appeal. This is unusual, but can sometimes happen when you get a “quick fix” filling or temporary crown that may be noticeable to onlookers.
  • Your gums may have receded and are now revealing the dark edges around your dental crown. This is usually due to poor oral hygiene.
  • Your natural tooth shade does not match the shade of your dental restorations, and they stand out. Dental restorations do not change colors with your teeth, so if you experience severe staining, or even teeth whitening treatment, you will probably have to replace your crowns to match.

Plenty of people like Liz find that their dental restorations just aren’t giving them the aesthetic appeal that they deserve. It may be that dental fillings are visible to other people, or that the metal edge of your dental crown is showing through. Whatever the problem, there is one great solution that will totally remake your smile, and give you back the confidence that comes with a dazzling teeth.

What’s the Solution?
Dental veneers are one of the most popular treatments used by dentists today. The veneer itself is an ultra-thin layer of porcelain or composite resin, which is fixed directly to the tooth. Veneers are always custom-fit, so you can have any shape or shade you want. And veneers are completely stain-resistant and translucent, so they reflect the same “shiny” properties as your natural tooth enamel, for a brilliantly white smile.

The advantage of veneers is that they can be placed directly over any existing structure, including your natural tooth, or an old dental restoration. Also, because they are so thin, veneers are usually less invasive than more traditional restorations, and require little preparation of the existing tooth.

Veneers are a great alternative or fix-up to crowns, fillings, and bondings. Veneers can also be used to:

• Improve a smile that is stained or has lost its shine
• Improve a smile that is crooked or has gaps
• Protect vulnerable teeth from excessive wear and tear

If you want to rid your smile of ugly dental restorations, and get a brand new smile just like Liz, all you have to do is schedule a free consultation with me, and we’ll get you on your way to a wonderful smile with veneers!

Look for next week’s newsletter, in which we’ll weigh the pros and cons of dental veneers vs. teeth whitening.