Well, The FDA has a new ruling on Dental Amalgam. You know, that silver stuff that your teeth are full of. For years dentists used this material to fill cavities and with great success! Problem……dental amalgam expands over years and starts to form cracks and fractures in teeth. Not good. In terms of being poisonous or dangerous to your health, well….you should read the following report by the FDA
CLICK HERE to read the FDA Ruling on Dental Amalagam.
Great Question! I get this one almost every week. So what is the answer? Well, there is a long explanation and a short one. Lets go with the LOOOOONNNNGGG one.
Twenty or so years ago a veneer was VERY different from a crown or a cap. A veneer was a very thin porcelain shell designed to fit over the front of a tooth to change the color or surface. They were very delicate and very few dentists felt comfortable using them. There were only a handful of people that did veneers regularly, in fact Cosmetic Dentistry was in its infancy really. A crown at the time was generally thought of as a restoration designed to cover the entire tooth and usually made from gold, or ceramic fused to a metal foundation. Crowns and caps were cemented in and veneers were bonded to the teeth. Most of the time crowns were considered as a last ditch effort to fix a tooth if a filling was just going to be to big and unpredictable. Crowns were not considered “cosmetic”.
Dentists performing veneers back then were thought of as “Mavericks” and the procedure and process wasn’t being taught in dental schools. As an aside….most dental schools to this day do not have a formal class designed to teach veneers and cosmetic dentistry. Cosmetic dentistry is requires more post graduate training, and lots of practice.
Fast Forward to today. The distinction between a crown and a veneer is much less clear. In fact I typically will use a “hybrid” veneer/crown for many of my cosmetic dentistry cases depending on what we are trying to fix or change. A veneer and a crown can be made of the exact same brand of material today, making it much easier to match teeth and get predictable results. Sometimes veneers not only cover the front of the teeth, but also wrap around the sides and top of the tooth, much like a crown does. Now, there are even different types of veneers. You have hear of lumineers right? Well, how about Empress, Finesse, Da Vinci, Cerinate, Mac, and Razor, just to name a few. Veneers can be made from different types of materials as well, and by lab techs with different skill levels.
Crowns and veneers today are used to not only change the color and surface of a tooth, but also to create a camouflage effect for people with missing, crooked, broken, cracked, or small teeth. Sometimes dentists will refer to this as “instant” orthodontics because you can take a mouth of teeth in the wrong position and make them look straight. Crowns and veneers are also used to buildup worn down teeth to open the bite and take years off, also referred to as a dental face lift.
The way we attach crowns and veneers to teeth today is also very different. We are in the fifth or maybe even sixth generation of bonding. It has changed so many times in the last ten years that it is almost a full time job keeping up with the new and advanced materials. Veneers are still bonded in, but crowns can be bonded now as well. If done correctly,this can be the most predictable way to get long term results for ceramic restorations.
