Want a Better Smile? Chew On These Options
If you need to tune up your teeth, your dentist can use bonding, veneers, and crowns to fix a range of dental problems.
If your teeth are chipped, broken, cracked, or badly stained or have slight gaps, you and your dentist may discuss a number of remedies. Your dentist should consider the simplest solution that works for you. In order of complexity, these solutions range from bonding to veneers and crowns.
Bonding
With dental bonding, tooth-colored material is attached, or bonded, with an adhesive to your teeth to repair defects and reshape them. The procedure can be done in a single visit.1,2,4Aside from fixing chipped, cracked, or stained teeth,1 bonding can also be used to close spaces in teeth and cover the surface of teeth to change their color or shape.2,4 Bonding lasts for several years, but it’s more vulnerable to chipping or staining.4
Veneers
Veneers are thin, custom-made shells designed to cover the front of your teeth. They are used to fix spaces between teeth and teeth that are chipped or worn, permanently stained, poorly shaped, or slightly crooked.1 Made of porcelain or plastic,2 they are usually used for the front teeth—particularly the upper front teeth, visible when you smile.2,4
Veneers are more durable and color-stable than bondings.4 They are also an alternative to crowns,2,4 which are more expensive.4
The process can take up to three visits.5 At the first visit, your dentist will often do a small amount of prep work on your teeth. The dentist will make a mold of the teeth5 and send it to a dental laboratory, which will make your veneers.4,5 Once the lab is finished, you will return to the dentist to have the veneers placed on your teeth.5
Crowns
If one of your teeth has a large amount of decay or number of fillings, your dentist might recommend a crown.3 This restores your entire tooth, not just its front surface.3,4,6 To prepare your tooth for a crown, your dentist will reduce the tooth to a stable foundation so that the crown can fit over it.6
The dentist will take an impression to send to a dental laboratory that will make your crown. Your dentist will also fashion a temporary crown to cover your tooth until your permanent crown is made and fitted by your dentist during a second sitting.6
Crowns are made of materials such as porcelain; metal; alloys of gold, copper, or other so-called noble metals; and base metal alloys with a silver appearance.3,7 They are more expensive than bonding and veneers.4
1 “Cosmetic Dentistry.” American Dental Association. www.ada.org/2990.aspx?currentTab=1 Accessed 2010.
2 “What is Cosmetic Dentistry?” Know Your Teeth, Academy of General Dentistry. http://www.knowyourteeth.com/infobites/abc/article Accessed 2010.
3 “Prosthodontic Procedures—Bridges, Crowns, Dentures, Dental Implants and More.”American College of Prosthodontists. www.prosthodontics.org/patients/procedures.asp Accessed 2010.
4 “What Is Cosmetic Dentistry?” Know Your Teeth, Academy of General Dentistry, March 29, 2007. www.knowyourteeth.com/infobites/abc/article Accessed 2010.
5 “What Are Veneers?” Know Your Teeth, Academy of General Dentistry, March 30, 2007. www.knowyourteeth.com/infobites/abc/article/ Accessed 2010.
6 “What Are Crowns?” Know Your Teeth, Academy of General Dentistry, March 29, 2007. www.agd.org/support/articles/?ArtID=1202 Accessed 2010.
7 “Comparison of Indirect Restorative Dental Materials.” American Dental Association. www.ada.org/3416.aspx?currentTab=2 Accessed 2010.