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Using Porcelain Veneers and Crowns to Improve Your Smile

Porcelain crowns and veneers are a great way to enhance and perfect your smile. Ideally they should look so good that no one need to know you have any work done, just that your teeth have improved in some way. The modern restorative techniques used and get cosmetic dentistry in Leeds City Dentalcare can produce really good aesthetic results as today’s porcelains are able to mimic the natural tooth structure better than ever before. Dental crowns and veneers are two different techniques, and each is used for a particular situation.

Veneers

Dental veneers are very thin pieces of ceramic material that are fabricated to replace the tooth enamel. They are bonded onto the outer surface of the tooth and usually only replace the front or biting surface of the tooth. Veneers are not designed to cover the entire tooth. Most veneers are at least 0.5 mm thick, so it’s usually necessary for Dr David Brown or another of our dentists in Leeds to remove this amount of tooth material from your natural teeth. This is necessary as otherwise you’ll end up with a bulky looking veneer that won’t look natural.

Veneers can be used for a number of different situations and can cosmetically improve the appearance of teeth in a number of different ways. They can hide imperfections or stains that cannot be lifted by tooth whitening; they can change the colour of the tooth or even the contour or shape of the tooth. They are great for anyone whose teeth are slightly rotated or out of alignment and who doesn’t want to undergo orthodontic treatment to correct them. Alternatively they can be used after braces, and can add the finishing touch to a newly straightened smile.

Once they are bonded onto the tooth they provide a reasonably strong restoration, although they still need to be treated with the same sort of care you give to your natural teeth. Veneers generally last up to 10 years or even longer, provided of course that they are looked after properly. One thing to bear in mind about having your teeth veneered is that you cannot go back, and these teeth will always need veneering.

Crowns

Crowns are sometimes called caps and are designed to fit over the entire tooth. They replace much of the natural tooth structure right down to the gum level, fitting securely around the margin of the natural tooth so bacteria are unable to penetrate. Crowns are usually used to restore teeth that have large areas of decay that cannot be replaced by fillings or inlays, or teeth that have been damaged due to some sort of trauma.

Whereas the veneers are generally used for cosmetic purposes, crowns are far more restorative but can still create a cosmetic effect. The overall look of teeth can be improved with dental crowns, especially if the natural teeth were substantially worn down through tooth grinding or bruxism, or if they had suffered substantial amounts of enamel erosion.

When the tooth is crowned a considerable amount of tooth material needs to be removed to create sufficient room for the dental crown. The crown can be made to look substantially different from the natural tooth that is being restored. This can be great if crowns are being used to replace teeth that were previously rotated or which were a less-than-perfect shape or size.

Crowns and be used to cover up natural teeth, or they can be attached to dental implants whereas dental veneers can only be used to cover natural teeth. Leeds City Dentalcare can provide patients with all-ceramic crowns that don’t contain any metal, and which look wonderfully natural. Our dentist in Leeds can also place dental implants.