What is the difference between crowns and veneers?

What is the difference between crowns and veneers?

07/10/2020

Restorative dentistry

The term restorative dentistry refers to the area of dentistry concerned with the repair and replacement of damaged or missing teeth. There are numerous treatment types for such purposes, such as fillings, crowns, veneers, bridges, dentures or dental implants. During our lifetime our teeth are exposed to enormous amounts of pressure through chewing. While we often do not notice this, the masseter muscle, which mediates the process of chewing is considered to be one of the strongest muscles in the human body – proportionally to the weights of different muscles. This large amount of pressure combined with ageing leads to the eventual degradation of our teeth. Dental injuries, such as chipping or enamel damage can also contribute to this process and accelerate it. Commonly used treatment methods in restorative dentistry are crowns and veneers. If you or your loved ones need crowns and veneers Burnham, book a consultation session at our practice, The Dental Surgery Burnham.

What are veneers?

The term veneer refers to a relatively thin layer of solid material placed and bonded over a tooth or multiple teeth in order to improve their aesthetic appearance or functionality or both. The two primary materials used to make veneers are composite and porcelain. Composite veneers can be directly ‘built up’ inside the mouth, but they can also be manufactured by a specialist and later bound to the tooth using a resin cement. Composite veneers, which are cheaper generally last for about 5-7 years, but there are other materials which last longer, but in turn cost more. Better materials typically last 10-30 years. Veneers are an excellent way of replacing missing parts of teeth and making them look better. They were first used by a Californian dentist called Charles Pincus in the late 1920s, to temporarily change the teeth of actors prior to film shots. Later technological advancements have allowed for the creation of more durable and long-lasting veneers. The discovery of etching brought great advantages to veneers. If you would like to get crowns and veneers Burnham, contact our dentistry and book an appointment for a consultation session.

Crowns

Dental crowns are a type of ‘cap’, which are placed onto a tooth to cover it in order to improve its aesthetic appearance, strength and function. While veneers do not cover the entire tooth, dental crowns do cover the whole tooth, which has the benefit that the underlying tooth will be less exposed to factors encouraging tooth decay. Crowns can be made out of various materials, including stainless steel and other metals, precious metals, porcelain-bonded-to-metal, resin, porcelain or ceramic. When you get a crown, most of the remaining part of the existing tooth is drilled down, as it has to serve as a peg for the crown to be fixed on to. This is a disadvantage in contrast to veneers, as veneers leave the remains of your natural tooth intact. If you or your loved one would like to get crowns and veneers Burnham to improve the aesthetics of a smile we would be happy to book an appointment for you.