Alternatives to Veneers
It would be disappointing news to you if you’ve gone to your dental expert to find out that you can’t have porcelain veneers because you have little tooth enamel, suffer from bruxism, or have other dental conditions. But don’t fret. The good news is that there are other alternatives to porcelain veneers that can help bring back your natural-looking smile. Read dental veneers cost.
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Dental Bonding
This solution is great for patients who don’t have enough tooth enamel to support porcelain veneers or if they do not want to alter their teeth permanently. Dental bonding can conceal discoloration, cracks, gaps, and misalignment in the teeth. During this procedure, your dentist will apply a composite resin to the front of one or more teeth. It will then be sculpted, custom shaded, and polished so that it will nearly be as close to the aesthetics of your natural teeth as possible.
Dental bonding will be able to provide the same result as veneers does to your teeth. However,r if composite resin is used, it is prone to staining and it wouldn’t have the same sheen and qualities that porcelain veneers have.
Micro-abrasion
This is a type of dental procedure where the outer stained or discolored surface of the teeth is eroded by using a coarse polishing compound. After the treatment, a topical fluoride will be applied to the teeth to prevent tooth sensitivity.
Dental Crowns
Dental crowns are similar to porcelain veneers in a way that it can cover imperfections such as cracks, or damages to the patient’s teeth. Dental crowns are also made of porcelain and it completely covers the tooth up to the gum line. Crowns are an excellent solution to patients who have considerable damage to the teeth that a veneer can’t treat. It can also help improve the structural integrity of a single tooth. However, crowns need a more invasive procedure because the dentist will remove a significant amount of dental structure.
Teeth Whitening
When there is tooth discoloration, dental veneers can help to match the color of your neighboring teeth. However, when most of the teeth are discolored, the best solution will be to have your teeth whitened. Tooth whitening is a quicker and more affordable treatment to dental veneers. This works by chemically breaking apart the stains that have developed in the tooth enamel. Patients can get the result faster if they combine in-house tooth whitening with in-office whitening.
However, teeth whitening can only work with stains caused by food and drinks such as wine, coffee, tobacco, and soda. If the stain or discoloration is caused by trauma, tetracycline, etc. then the teeth will need to be concealed either by dental bonding or veneer.
Orthodontics
While porcelain veneers can fix minor misalignments or gaps in the teeth, it cannot fix severely crooked or misaligned teeth. If you don’t want the look of metal braces, there are plenty of alternatives to metal braces today. Thanks to the advancement in orthodontics you can have lingual braces, ceramic braces, and Invisalign which hides the unsightly appearance of the metal brackets.
While it’s a known fact that veneers are an effective and safe treatment in making alterations to your teeth, some may find the cost of the treatment pricey. Thankfully, we have a variety of treatment options that can fit the patient’s needs and budget.
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