Dental Veneers: A Path Toward a Brighter Smile
Your smile is a beautiful thing and part of what makes you unique. If you feel self-conscious about your smile, your dentist can help address your concerns and make you proud to wear it. One way to help improve your smile is dental veneers, which can brighten and straighten your smile by covering small imperfections with your teeth.
What Options Do I Have to Brighten My Smile?
Fortunately, there is no shortage of options available to help you meet your smile goals. These include:
- Dental bonding
- Dental crowns
- Orthodontics, including clear aligners
- Professional whitening treatments
- Teeth contouring
- Veneers
Your dentist will work with you to better understand what you hope to achieve for your smile and can recommend the best options to meet your goals, health, and budget. For many patients, dental veneers offer a permanent solution to dramatically improve their smile. Veneers can help fix cosmetic issues of your teeth like shape, shade, and misalignment.
How Are Dental Veneers Placed?
Before undergoing any dental procedure, your dentist will meet with you to discuss your options. If you have oral health issues like gum disease, cavities, or missing teeth, your dentist will help address them before moving forward with any treatment, including veneers. Your dentist will also assess any damage to your teeth to understand if more protective solutions, like dental crowns, are right for you.
During your procedure, your dentist will scrape some enamel from your natural teeth. This new surface will help the veneers stick to your teeth better. Your dentist will then take dental impressions which will be used to create your custom veneers, ensuring a perfect fit and an improved smile.
When your custom veneers are done, your dentist will bond them to your natural teeth using dental cement. Finally, they will check the placement and your bite to make sure they fit comfortably. Your dentist may need to shave off any excess material to achieve a better fit.
After the procedure, you may require ongoing maintenance, including professional cleanings, to keep your veneers looking new.
What Veneer Options Are Available?
Porcelain veneers and composite veneers are the two most popular types of permanent veneers. These options differ in their material, durability, and cost.
Porcelain Veneers
Stain-resistant porcelain veneers are custom-made of high-quality material to perfectly fit over your natural teeth. There are advantages and disadvantages to this option.
Pros:
- Durable: Porcelain veneers can last up to 20 years with proper maintenance.
- Easy to care for: These veneers do not stain easily and can remain in prime shape with good oral hygiene practices.
- High-quality: Porcelain veneers can be customized to perfectly match your natural teeth.
Cons:
- Expensive: Porcelain veneers can cost up to five times as much as composite veneers. Further, if porcelain veneers are chipped, they have to be replaced completely, which can prove costly.
- Longer treatment: Your dentist may require multiple visits to measure and place these veneers.
- More enamel removal: To ensure a better fit, your dentist will have to remove more enamel while placing porcelain veneers than for others.
Composite (Resin) Veneers
Made from resin designed to match your natural teeth, composite veneers offer a cost-effective alternative to porcelain veneers but have their own pros and cons.
Pros:
- Affordability: These veneers are made of lower-priced material than porcelain veneers and can cost significantly less to place.
- Fewer treatments: Composite veneers often only require one treatment to place.
- Less (or no) enamel removal: Your dentist can usually place resin veneers without removing any enamel from your natural teeth.
Cons:
- Less durable: Composite veneers will need to be replaced regularly and generally do not last more than eight years.
- Lower quality fit: Resin veneers are not as customized as porcelain veneers and may not have as natural a fit.
- More maintenance required: Stains can show up more quickly on resin veneers than on porcelain ones. Resin veneers require regular, professional cleanings to keep them looking like new.
With a full range of options to enhance your smile and a tranquil treatment space, Roots Dental Studio is here to help give you the smile you’ve always dreamed of. Book an appointment to learn how.
Not as Scary as They Seem: Demystifying Root Canals
Root canals are among the most dreaded dental treatments – but these procedures are not what they used to be. Today, licensed dentists perform root canals with minimal pain and downtime for you. And most importantly, the treatment can help relieve oral pain that has been building up for months or even years.
Root canals are procedures that remove decayed, damaged, or infected pulp from inside your tooth while saving the rest of your tooth. Your dentist may recommend a root canal if you have damaged pulp inside your tooth.
According to the American Academy of Endodontists, saving teeth with root canals can help:
- Biting and chewing
- Preserve the tooth’s appearance
- Protect the tooth from wear
There’s no need to fear getting a root canal. Learn more about this procedure and what to expect if your dentist recommends it for you.
How Do I Know If I Need a Root Canal?
Your dentist will need to perform an exam to determine if you need a root canal for your tooth pain. However, you may notice some signs that might signal that it’s time to visit the dentist:
- Persistent toothache
- Broken, chipped, or cracked teeth
- Discolored teeth
- Sensitivity to heat and cold
- Swollen gums or jaw
These symptoms are not ones to ignore since decay can become worse over time. Your dentist will be able to determine if your symptoms are the result of decay or infection that can be treated with a root canal.
Are Root Canals Painful?
Though many patients might be afraid of root canals, the procedure itself is not painful. Your dentist will use a local anesthetic to numb your tooth and the surrounding area before they begin the procedure. If you experience dental anxiety or have a fear of needles, drills, or other parts of the procedure, you may also benefit from sedation dentistry during the procedure.
Afterward, your teeth and gums may be more sensitive for a few days, but since the infected or decayed portion of your tooth will have been removed, you’ll probably be in less pain than you were before!
What Happens During a Root Canal?
Before your procedure, your dentist will examine your tooth and possibly take X-rays to determine if you need a root canal. If they recommend a root canal, they will inject a local anesthetic to keep you from feeling any pain.
During the procedure, your dentist will drill a small hole in the crown of your tooth and will use specialized tools to remove decayed or damaged pulp. After, they’ll disinfect the area, fill in the hole with a special material, and seal the tooth to prevent infection. Finally, they will place a dental crown to protect the tooth and restore your natural bite.
Five Ways to Avoid a Root Canal
While root canals can often be done with minimal pain, many patients would still prefer to avoid them. Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to prevent needing one in the first place:
- Practice good oral hygiene: Floss at least once each day and brush your teeth twice per day.
- See your dentist: Visit your dentist for regular cleanings and exams to catch problems early.
- Eat a healthy diet: Limit sugary and acidic food and beverages that can break down enamel and cause cavities.
- Stay hydrated: Drinking plenty of water helps your body produce more saliva that protects your teeth.
- Protect your mouth: Wear a mouthguard when playing sports to prevent injuries like cracked or broken teeth. You can also wear a mouthguard at night to prevent damage from grinding your teeth.
Don’t Live with Dental Pain
Painful teeth and gums can keep you from feeling your best. From root canals and extractions to preventative care, Roots Dental Studio is here to take your toothache away. Book an appointment to learn how we can help.
Are Same-Day Crowns Right for Me?
Most of us, at some point, will require restorative dental care. In fact, the CDC estimates that up to 92% of adults aged 45-64 have had some dental restoration. Whether you want to improve your smile or protect a tooth from new damage, your dentist may recommend a dental crown – a special cap that can be placed over your tooth or dental implant. Traditionally, placing a crown would take multiple visits to the dentist over a few weeks. However, for some patients, same-day crowns are a better option for convenient, customized treatment.
What Are Same-Day Crowns?
Same-day crowns are created using Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics (CEREC) technology, a program that uses digital images and 3D models to build crowns. This method means your dentist can make customized crowns in their office rather than sending impressions away for production.
These crowns are similar quality to traditional crowns and are produced to match the appearance of existing teeth. Because the entire process is done in-house, getting a same-day crown is much more convenient for patients since they can avoid multiple appointments.
What Is the Procedure for CEREC Crowns?
Your appointment will begin with a consultation with your dentist, who will evaluate your tooth and advise you on the appropriate treatment. If a CEREC crown is recommended, your dentist will inject local anesthesia and prepare the tooth, including removing some enamel to ensure a better fit.
Your dentist will then create a digital impression using a small, specialized camera. These images go to a computer, which will create a 3D model of your crown. This model is then milled by a machine in the dentist’s office. Finally, your dentist will place the freshly produced crown over your tooth or implant with dental cement. This entire process takes just a couple of hours.
How are Same-Day Crowns Different from Traditional Crowns?
The biggest difference between CEREC crowns and traditional crowns is the treatment time. For traditional crowns, patients must go to multiple appointments to prep their teeth, complete impressions, and get the crown placed. Traditional crowns can also take weeks to produce, which means patients will leave their first visit with a temporary crown instead of a custom, permanent one.
CEREC crowns, however, are measured, produced, and placed at one appointment. This convenience can be helpful for many patients, especially those needing an emergency crown or those with severe dental anxiety.
CEREC crowns also differ from traditional crowns in other ways, including:
- Durability: Depending on what they are made of, traditional crowns can last decades with proper care. CEREC crowns last 10-15 years on average but can function much longer with regular professional cleanings and good oral hygiene.
- Material: Traditional crowns can be made from a variety of materials, including metal, porcelain, porcelain fused to metal, resin, and pressed ceramic. CEREC crowns are often made of porcelain fused to metal, though they can be made of other materials as well.
- Process: For traditional crowns, your dentist will have you bite down on putty to create the impression for your custom crown. For CEREC crowns, they will simply use a small camera to take photos inside your mouth.
- Speed: Because dental impressions must be sent out for production, traditional crowns might take weeks to produce. CEREC crowns, however, can be made in just a couple of hours.
Despite these differences, the cost is generally the same between traditional and CEREC crowns. Your dentist can help you decide on the right solution for your goals.
A Brighter Smile Is Within Reach
From same-day crowns and veneers to tooth whitening and orthodontics, Roots Dental Studio is here to give you the smile you’ve always dreamed of. Book an appointment to learn how we can help.