Improve Your Smile: 6 Types Of Dental Restoration

Restorative dentistry strives to enhance your oral health and chewing capacity by repairing or replacing teeth. General, aka family dentists, are the ones who can perform restorative dental procedures such as crowns, bridges, implants and dentures with great success. Here are six types of dental restoration procedures that you may need to bring back the beauty of your smile.

Who needs restorative dentistry?

You may need restorative dentistry if you have:

Cavities/tooth decay.
Damaged or broken teeth.
Missing teeth.

Restorative dentistry vs. cosmetic dentistry

Restorative dentistry is all about enhancing your oral health and functionality, whereas cosmetic dentistry concentrates on increasing the attractiveness of your smile. In some cases, dental treatments will provide both functional and aesthetic advantages (aesthetic restorative dentistry). For instance, a dental crown not only brings back its ability to perform chewing movements correctly but also allows it to look more agreeable aesthetically.

Why is a restorative dentistry procedure important?

Restorative dentistry is an essential avenue to maintaining long-term oral health. Your dentist can revive your smile so that it functions at its highest level, by repairing any broken or decayed teeth. With restored dental well-being, you will be able to eat, communicate and chew with ease and confidence again!

Types of dental restoration

Restorative dentistry can bring back a tooth’s beauty and functionality following damage or loss. Fillings, crowns, bridges, veneers, implants and dentures are the most popular forms of dental restorations available today. Every type of restoration offers its own advantages depending on the situation, which makes it an ideal selection for various levels of harm to teeth.

Fillings

When bacteria eat away your tooth enamel and cause a hole, it’s called a cavity. Smaller cavities are usually repaired with dental fillings.

Reshaping and repairing damaged teeth can be done with fillings. There are two popular substances used in this process: composite, a blend of plastic and glass particles, or amalgam, a combination of silver and other metals. Fillings may also be utilized to close the spaces between teeth that have been impacted by decay.

During this procedure, your dentist removes the decayed portion of your tooth and then fills in the hole with a tooth-colored composite material. This halts the progression of tooth decay and reduces the risk of further damage.

Crowns

For damaged teeth requiring intensive restoration, crowns may be the ideal solution. They fit over the entire tooth like a cap and help to protect it from further harm while also restoring its natural form and aspect. Dental crowns are commonly used for:

teeth with cavities too large for dental fillings
weak or cracked teeth
worn down teeth
a vulnerable tooth after a root canal

Dental implants offer a stable foundation for replacing missing teeth and can be constructed from an array of materials such as gold, ceramic, porcelain-fused-to-metal (PFM), or all resin, depending on the patient’s requirements and preferences.

In most cases, a dental professional will take an impression of your tooth and send it to a lab, where your crown will be made. In order to place a crown, your dentist must remove some of your natural tooth enamel. So, they’ll alter your tooth (shave part of your tooth down), then place a crown over it.

Bridges

Bridges are artificial teeth that fill in gaps left by missing teeth due to extraction or decay. A bridge typically consists of an artificial tooth attached to two crowns which are placed on either side of the gap to anchor it securely in place.

There are several different types of bridges, such as:

traditional
Maryland
cantilever
implant-supported

Bridges not only improve aesthetics but also help maintain proper alignment between remaining natural teeth as well as restore functionality when chewing or speaking.

A dental bridge can replace a single missing tooth or a row of missing teeth. A bridge consists of artificial teeth with dental crowns on either side. Your dentist will alter (shave down) your natural teeth on both sides of the gap. Next, they’ll bond the bridge to your natural teeth. The crowns fit over your natural teeth, and the artificial teeth span the gap in between them.

Veneers

Veneers are thin pieces of tooth-colored, natural-looking porcelain shells that fit directly onto the surface of existing teeth in order to instantly improve their colour as well as mask any chips or cracks that may be present on the tooth’s surface. It’s considered a cosmetic procedure used to perfect the look of damaged teeth.

Veneers may make small or short teeth appear more even. They can also bring uniformity to discolored, cracked, or chipped teeth.

They are attached with a special adhesive and can last up to 10 years if properly cared for. There are two types of veneer procedures:

Traditional. This requires extensive prep work, including grinding down the natural tooth’s enamel and structure.
No prep. This requires less preparation and enamel removal. This type of veneer doesn’t need anesthesia.

Veneers provide more aesthetically pleasing results than traditional crowns because they don’t require extensive grinding away at healthy enamel or the tooth structure before being applied.

Dental Implants

Implants are titanium posts that act as a replacement for a missing tooth root when placed directly into the jawbone beneath the gum line. There are two main types:

Endosteal. In this type, the artificial root is drilled into the jawbone.
Subperiosteal. The artificial root is placed on or above the jawbone. This type of implant is done when there isn’t enough healthy jawbone to hold an endosteal implant in place.

Your dentist can restore dental implants with crowns, bridges and even dentures. Unlike traditional crowns and bridges, implants don’t require the alteration of your natural teeth. Many dentists consider implants to be the golden standard of teeth replacement.

After implantation is complete, a crown is attached on top in order to replicate the look and feel of a natural tooth without needing to grind down adjacent healthy teeth like bridges sometimes do.

Implants provide many benefits, such as improved speech clarity and better bite strength compared with traditional dentures or bridgework since they don’t move around when chewing food like removable appliances can sometimes.

Dentures

Dentures are removable prostheses designed to replace missing teeth for people who have lost them due to old age or extensive dental disease or injury.

There are two main types: partial dentures, which replace only some missing teeth, and full dentures replace all upper or lower teeth on one arch; both types consist of false gums held together by metal clasps hooked around existing natural ones in order for them to stay securely in place during eating/speaking activities by suctioning them against your gums like vacuum cleaners do!

If you have decayed, damaged or missing teeth, schedule a consultation with a dentist. They can help restore your smile’s health, function and appearance. You should also visit your dentist regularly for routine dental check-ups and cleanings. In addition, be sure to practice good oral hygiene at home in-between visits. If you have a dental restoration that feels “off” or causes a bad taste, call your dentist right away for further instructions.