What do we mean when we say “I want beautiful teeth”? In the world of ordinary things, “beautiful” most often means “noticeable, eye-catching.”
When we buy beautiful things, we expect that we will be able to attract the gaze of others, but with beautifully made teeth it is different. Beautiful teeth make the face attractive, if they are not obvious. Only you and the dentist know the secret to a renewed smile.
How to achieve such “inconspicuous beauty”?
Making a tooth both beautiful and inconspicuous means skillfully choosing the shape, surface relief and color. In this case, the restoration made will organically fit into the dentition, making the renewed smile beautiful and harmonious.
The main reason why a new tooth or restored part differs from natural teeth is a difference in color.
The fact is that we see objects and determine their color by the spectrum of light that they reflect. The path that light travels depends on the shape of the surface and the internal structure of the tooth.
The surface of a natural tooth has a complex macro- and micro-relief, and the internal structure is not uniform. Manufacturers of dental materials take into account the structural features of natural teeth and offer dentists and dental technicians materials that imitate the properties of enamel and dentin, of varying transparency and shades.
The layer-by-layer application of such materials allows you to create restorations that are as similar in structure to natural teeth and indistinguishable from them in color.
Using Lumineers
It acts as an analogue to veneers, but has a wider range of advantages, for example, the absence of turning. For more reliable fixation, it is enough to carry out surface grinding of the enamel. Also, these dental products are thinner, which increases the level of aesthetics and naturalness. They cost about 1.5 times more than veneers, but the result is worth it. Installation is very fast. The first session includes examination and sanitation of the oral cavity, as well as taking impressions. At the second session, lumineers are installed.
Is it so easy to put an invisible filling on a front tooth?
If the tooth is not very badly damaged, you will be offered to restore it with a filling. Aesthetic restorations made in one visit to a dentist are called “direct”.
The procedure for restoring a chipped part of a tooth seems simple, but it is not: the tooth is unevenly colored - it is darker at the gums, and almost transparent at the cutting edge. It will surprise you to know that teeth contain colors ranging from pink to blue, but the main shades are yellow, brown and gray.
Only with practice does a dentist develop an intuitive understanding of the sequence and which shades to use when layer-by-layer restoration of a particular tooth.
If you are interested, watch a video about how aesthetic restoration of the front teeth is done using Enamel plus material.
How to restore a beautiful smile?
The front teeth include six upper and six lower teeth. Our dentists use all possible methods for their restoration:
- Ceramic or composite inlays,
- Veneers are permanent “onlays” that are attached directly to an imperfect tooth.
- Restoration by filling is called aesthetic or artistic. Photopolymer fillings are used.
Only your attending physician should choose between the presented methods, since each procedure has its own characteristics and contraindications. In addition to the chosen technique, special attention should be paid to the material. The maximum resemblance to real enamel will depend on this.
With the help of artistic restoration, you can restore the front teeth and canines so that no one can distinguish the restored tooth elements from their own, except the dentist.
Features of aesthetic restoration of pulpless teeth
Some patients experience darker teeth after nerve removal.
To prevent a “dead” tooth from standing out among the “living” ones, the doctor can veneer the visible part with filling material. To do this, the top layer of enamel is removed and replaced with a lighter composite material. This is a fast and relatively inexpensive method of aesthetic restoration.
Despite the fact that modern filling materials make it possible to restore a tooth “without anyone noticing,” over time, by absorbing the dyes contained in food, composite restorations become visible and have to be replaced.
Preparation for restoration: stages
If the patient has indications for such treatment, then:
- Examination and consultation with an orthopedic doctor who will help you choose the necessary recovery option.
- Carrying out additional diagnostics - computed tomography, which will allow us to examine all structures in detail and identify contraindications to this or that type of restoration.
- Professional oral hygiene performed by a dental hygienist. It consists of removing plaque, stones from the surface of the enamel, eliminating bleeding gums, etc.
- Treatment: sanitation of the oral cavity is necessary in order to eliminate foci of infection and caries.
- Whitening can be carried out before the restoration, since if it is carried out after, the color of the bleached teeth will not match the previously carried out restoration.
- The Vita scale is used: the orthopedic surgeon determines the color of the teeth.
What to do if there are several fillings on a tooth and you are tired of changing them
If you are tired of changing fillings, but want your tooth to always look “like new,” the best solution would be to install:
- ceramic veneer if the tooth is “alive”
- a ceramic crown if the tooth is pulpless
Aesthetic restoration of teeth with veneers and crowns are classified as “indirect” restorations, since they must be prepared in a dental laboratory before installation. Unlike “direct” restorations made from filling material, ceramic crowns and veneers will not change their color over time and will always look “like new.”
The ceramics from which crowns and veneers are made are close in optical properties to the enamel of natural teeth, so talented dental technicians manage to create teeth that are indistinguishable from natural ones. But in such dental restoration a new level of complexity appears: how to make sure that a dental technician who does not see the patient understands what color a veneer or crown needs to be made?
When is dental restoration required?
Indications:
- Presence of caries.
- Aesthetic defects of the dentition: chips, cracks, darkening.
- Old fillings that are noticeable and stand out when you smile.
- Presence of large interdental spaces.
- Non-carious lesions: fluorosis, enamel hypoplasia, enamel necrosis and others.
- Minor crooked teeth that can be corrected without installing braces.
Teeth colors
This is where the color scale comes to the rescue, in which the teeth are divided into groups depending on the shades and their intensity.
It would seem that it would be difficult, given a scale, to find the desired color match. However, the choice is not as obvious as it might seem. Any surrounding colors, especially bright ones, from the patient’s makeup to the color of furniture and walls, disrupt the perception of shades.
The perception of colors is purely individual, and also deteriorates with age, so often when choosing a color, the doctor asks the opinion of the assistant and his colleagues. Lighting plays an important role in determining color (it can be artificial, natural or mixed).
Since the veneer and crown are placed on a ground tooth, it is necessary to predict what color this combination will produce.
Types of damage and their complexity
All mechanical injuries can be divided into:
1. Dislocations are a fairly complex injury, which is characterized by the displacement of one tooth relative to the others.
2. Fractures are severe types of injuries. These include: cracks in the coronal part, chipped enamel, and root fractures. The method of treating and eliminating the problem depends on the specific case.
3. Bruises are the mildest type of all injuries. It is characterized by minor tissue damage, without displacement.
The main causes of damage are:
- caries;
— thinning of tooth enamel due to problems (diseases) in the human body, and as a consequence deformation of the tooth shape;
- large and sudden load on the front part of the jaw;
- direct blow or careless handling.
Why a new tooth may be noticeable
It happens that when choosing a color among the reference teeth, you can find a surprisingly suitable one. The laboratory makes the restoration in accordance with the specified color, but it looks like a “stain” in the dentition. Most often this happens if the tooth is restored with a metal-ceramic crown, and the neighboring teeth are “alive”.
Above we talked only about ceramic veneers and crowns, but it happens that in order to reduce the cost of prosthetics, the patient chooses metal-ceramic crowns, the aesthetic properties of which differ from all-ceramic ones not for the better.
The metal from which the crown frame is made does not allow light to pass through at all, and the dental technician, by combining paints and shades, tries to create a feeling of depth and transparency.
The task of “matching the color” is simplified if you choose ceramics (lithium disilicate) or zirconium dioxide lined with ceramics for the production of restorations. These materials transmit light well, but there are difficulties with color selection in this case:
- reference teeth colors in the clinic and laboratory may not match
- During the manufacturing process, after firing, ceramics may change color slightly
- ceramic masses may vary in color depending on the batch
- Even an experienced dental technician is not always able to select the combination of ceramic masses necessary to obtain the desired color
technique of layer-by-layer application of Noritake ceramic mass
It is precisely the difficulties of production that explain why, after trying on crowns and veneers, they often have to be returned to the dental laboratory for revision.
How can you hide an extracted tooth (if there is no root)
- removable “butterfly prosthesis” (already discussed above),
- fixed classic bridge,
- adhesive bridge,
- prosthetics on implants.
Fixed bridge prosthesis
A classic bridge consists of several crowns connected together. The outer ones are fixed on the supporting teeth, the central one replaces the missing tooth (more precisely, its upper part - a natural crown). Such prosthetics are still very popular because... we can call it familiar to people and most practicing dentists. Although, in fact, it has no obvious advantages. After all, you have to grind and depulp the supporting teeth - this reduces their service life several times.
You need to understand that if you choose a conventional bridge, bone tissue atrophy under the “empty” crown will continue. The prosthesis itself will become uncomfortable over time. Plus, the supporting teeth will be overloaded and gradually collapse. As a result, in a few years the bridge will fall out, you will have to remove its supports and think about new prosthetics.
Adhesive bridge
An adhesive bridge is a temporary orthopedic structure, it is somewhat reminiscent of a traditional bridge, only instead of supporting crowns it has small wings that are glued to adjacent teeth. The aesthetics of the adhesive structure are quite good; the supports for it do not need to be ground (and if necessary, then to a minimum). But the big drawback is poor fixation. Even with moderate pressure, the adhesive “bridge” may fall off. And to glue it, you will need to visit the clinic.
Prosthetics on implants
When using implant prosthetics, the following happens: first, an implant is implanted in place of the missing tooth root. If there are no 2-3 roots, then each will be replaced with an implant. By the way, the implant can be implanted at once, i.e. immediately after tooth extraction - this saves time and money. After some time (from 1 to 6 months), a permanent crown is installed. These months are necessary for the implant to take root in the bone and fuse with it into a single whole. If you immediately put a crown on the implant and start biting or chewing food with it, it will move, and inflammation and rejection may also begin. In the meantime, the implantation takes place, the patient walks with a temporary prosthesis.
Read on the topic: why it is better to choose a crown on an implant - the advantages of the most modern type of prosthetics.
Dentures on implants do not have the main disadvantage of classical dentures - the bone under them does not atrophy. There is also no need to “spoil” neighboring good teeth by grinding, no need to remove “nerves” from them. Therefore, restoration on implants lasts much longer (not 5-7 years, but 10-15 years).
An important nuance - when using prosthetics in the “smile zone”, you can place a ceramic crown only if zirconium dioxide is used between the implant and the prosthesis). And in the chewing department, it is better to give preference to metal ceramics and zirconium dioxide - due to their increased strength.
The only disadvantages of implant prosthetics include the presence of some contraindications. For example, a ban or allergy to anesthesia, or if the bone has severely atrophied. First, it will need to be increased, and then an implant will be placed. And in terms of cost, installing a budget implant with a crown is quite comparable to a prosthetic bridge.
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Advantages and disadvantages of temporary solutions
The advantages include the following: they allow you to temporarily hide the fact of missing teeth until permanent prosthetics are installed. This means that no matter how long the preparation for treatment lasts, you will be able to communicate, talk, smile calmly and without hesitation, without experiencing psychological discomfort.
Temporary structures allow you to recreate the integrity of the row and protect the mucous membrane from injury at the site of the extracted tooth. In addition, they prevent neighboring units from moving to the place of the lost one, which prevents their deformation and malocclusion. They restore chewing function and help maintain correct diction, which often deteriorates in the presence of defects in the frontal area of the smile.
Another important advantage of temporary structures is that with their help, the patient experiences the process of adaptation to permanent dentures more easily and gets used to them much faster.
As for the disadvantages, the main disadvantage is the short service life. This drawback is explained by the quality and fragility of the materials from which temporary dentures are made, which make it possible to hide a destroyed or removed front/chewing tooth.
In order not to encounter the disadvantages of temporary solutions in practice, we recommend that you replace them with permanent ones exactly when dentists recommend doing so. On average, the period of optimal wearing is up to six months, maximum 2-3 years - this is more than enough for therapeutic and preparatory manipulations preceding permanent prosthetics.
Fixed temporary structures
There are several varieties in this subgroup.
Plastic crowns: suitable for protecting fragile, pulpless and severely damaged teeth until permanent structures are created. It is recommended to replace such dentures immediately after making permanent ones, but the service life may be longer - 2-3 years.
Adhesive bridges: can be used as temporary structures in any situation. They are attached to the supporting teeth using guides or “wing” plates extending from the crown and dental cement. They do not require turning or depulping the supports. Maximum service life is 1-2 years. As a rule, they simply cannot withstand the load anymore.
Removable temporary solutions
These are again the immediate “butterfly” prostheses that we have already discussed above. They are the best suited for the role of temporary ones. This type of design is also suitable in preparation for implantation, during tissue healing after osteoplastic surgery. Or during the healing of the implant, in particular, when the treatment is carried out according to the classical two-stage protocol and the artificial root cannot be loaded until its successful osseointegration occurs, i.e. engraftment into bone.
Is it difficult to get used to wearing dentures?
Most patients note that getting used to the structures did not cause them any significant difficulties. If they are made and installed correctly, then there should be no painful sensations. However, temporary discomfort may be present, but this usually resolves within a few weeks.
Doctors note that the process of addiction is purely individual. Some people feel great almost immediately, others cannot come to terms with the feeling of a foreign body in the mouth even when restoring 1 tooth (especially if a removable option was chosen).
Composite restoration
Restoration of chipped front teeth is carried out using a composite material. The dentist selects a composite filling identical in color to the natural shade of the tooth and builds up (fills) the missing part, making the smile as aesthetically attractive as before. This type of defect elimination is the most common and highly effective. Also, the reasonable price makes it accessible to every person.
Restoring anterior teeth with composite materials is possible:
— for small defect areas;
— in case of mechanical damage;
- with focal destruction by caries.
This method of restoration is in many ways superior to traditional filling, as it guarantees not only functionality, but also allows the restoration of damaged tissue (enamel, dentin) and the aesthetics of the smile. Composite restoration guarantees the original color, transparency and shape. Thanks to this, the restored tooth becomes absolutely identical to the natural one.
Restoration with composites can be indirect or direct. The first is carried out in special dental clinics, where all the necessary composite blanks are prepared for the client. The second is the application of a composite material directly to the surface (filling).
The procedure has many advantages, one of the main ones being the short session time and durability.
