In a perfect world, your beautiful teeth would remain strong, healthy and refreshingly white throughout your life. The sad reality though is that you will at some point need to restore a tooth. That is because a tooth can easily be compromised by enamel erosion, a crack, a chip, injury, serious gum disease or even cavities. Old restorations can also break and force you to replace them. A root canal procedure done eons ago can also develop an abscess. In a nutshell, there is a lot that can happen to your teeth. But this should not worry you at all. Truth is, anyone can have beautiful teeth. With good oral hygiene and scheduled visits to your dentist, you can be sure of beautiful teeth even in your old age. Read on to learn more on how to fix your teeth to achieve a better dental image and oral health.
Dental Bonding
It is ideal for minor cosmetic fixes. Your dentist will most likely fix cracks, small chips, spaces in between teeth and discoloration by a dental bonding procedure. A special tooth-colored composite resin which is moldable is used for dental bonding. It is shaped as desired then cured with a specially formulated light which hardens it to ensure it adheres tightly to the affected tooth.
Porcelain Veneers
They are wafer thin yet sturdy tooth shaped fronts which are permanently bonded to natural teeth. Dentists use them when the underlying tooth is strong, structurally sound and free of decay. Porcelain veneers are highly recommended for several reasons. A veneer can easily cover a crack or a chip or rectify the alignment of a tooth that ostensibly appears off kilter when compared to the surrounding teeth.
Fillings
Forget about tooth fillings used in the 80s and 90s. Modern fillings are both strong and inconspicuous. It gets even better with the fact that a minimally invasive filling can leave you with more of nature’s ideal dental material – your very own dentin and enamel. Your dentist can also replace your old amalgam fillings with modern white fillings. Why have metal fillings when you can go for modern fillings?
Onlays And Inlays
Traditional fillings are first shaped and molded after they have been applied to your tooth. Inlays and onlays on the other hand are fabricated in a dental lab. That is why they are often referred to as indirect fillings. A relatively painless and less invasive onlay or inlay may be used instead of a traditional filling or even a crown. Keep in mind that inlays are applied only at the center of the biting surface of a tooth and not a point or a cusp. Inlays are also smaller than onlays which can restore one or more tooth cusps.
Crowns
Crowns are popular for pretty much obvious reasons. First off, a crown can replace the whole visible portion of a tooth. This means it can fix your teeth by restoring appearance, function and strength. Your dentist will most likely use a crown to fix a tooth that has had a root canal or one that has had severe decay. It can also be used as the replacement tooth in a dental bridge. Then there is the fact that crowns can be made of all metal such as gold, resin, ceramic or porcelain fused to metal.