As most patients know, regular dental treatment should take
place roughly twice a year, six months apart. However, it can occasionally be
recommended beyond routine cleanings, sometimes for a form of restorative
dentistry, which involves diagnosing, preventing, and treating oral diseases.
Dentists can suggest treatment plans for restoring teeth that have decayed,
cracked, chipped, become discolored, or are even missing. When patients have
teeth affected by one of these trauma-related or developmental defects, they
can benefit from restorative care, such as fillings, crowns, veneers, or
bridges.
Dental Visit
Oral conditions can be diagnosed by dentists during routine
visits, using mechanical, radiographic, and visual methods to analyze the
teeth's surface. Some restorative treatments are only slightly invasive and may
be performed during one appointment. Other more complex dental treatments could
require several visits, with some procedures requiring specialists, such as
endodontists, prosthodontists, or maxillofacial surgeons. If there have been
any recent advancements in restorative dental care, dentists can discuss any
options that may enhance the treatment’s effectiveness for patients. Different
kinds of anesthesia or sedation may be required, allowing patients to be free
of anxiety or discomfort during the procedure.
Restorative Materials
Dental professionals have the option of four different
dental materials to use for restoring teeth: dental amalgam, porcelain, gold,
and composite resin. Composite resin includes plastic or ceramic compounds,
which can be used along with materials like glass ionomers. Other non-precious
and precious metals like gold are also available and just as durable. An
important thing to remember to do is talk with your dental professional about
mercury in their materials, which, while harmless in many restorations, some
dental practices would prefer not using.
Fillings
With any of the previously mentioned materials, there are
various treatment options for restoring the teeth’s surface or replacing
missing teeth. For example, fillings often involve amalgam for restoring the
teeth's surface, generally being placed on posterior teeth. An amalgam filling
is an alloy, meaning it does have mercury or possibly a substitute, while
composite fillings are resins that are used for teeth color restorations on
both back and front teeth. Most patients prefer composite fillings, as they are
hard to see inside the mouth.
Veneers
Regarding veneers, there are layers of material (composite
or porcelain) that are teeth-colored much in the same way as composite
fillings. They’re cemented or bonded to one or more teeth’s surfaces, mainly
lower and upper front teeth (or incisors). They can help improve the look of
uneven, chipped, or cracked teeth.
Bridges and Crowns
Regarding crowns, it’s a restoration
that covers entire parts of teeth that have been chipped, cracked, damaged, or
been subjected to an extensive restoration which threatens the entire tooth.
Crowns can be made from porcelain, gold, or similar ceramic materials. Bridges,
on the other hand, are prosthetic replacements for one or more real teeth,
consisting of crowns adjacent to the spaces with replacement teeth, which
attach to the crowns.
Restorative procedures can be quite expensive, but you can
save as much as 20 percent off your bill by signing up for our New Hampshire
discount dental plan. For more information, please click here.
Copyright: roxiller
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