New diagnostic and restorative technologies allow the dentists at Advanced Dentistry South Florida to give you a healthy smile with long lasting results. Nowadays, we utilize tooth-colored restoration materials that are strong and aesthetically pleasing. They look and function just like natural teeth.
Fillings are done to remove decay, and replace the affected tooth structure. It is called a filling because new a material fills hole that decay left. Now days teeth are treated with bonded tooth colored composite resin fillings. If you have a tooth that requires a filling, the dentist will first remove the decayed tooth material, clean the affected area, and then fill the cleaned out cavity with a filling material that is custom made to the exact color of your natural teeth, creating a more natural appearance.? Caught early enough, cavities can be treated easily and painlessly. If not treated decay can lead to tooth pain and/or infection, and the tooth would need root canal treatment or extraction.
Existing fillings sometimes need to be replaced due to wear, chipping, or cracking. Many people use this opportunity to replace their silver amalgam fillings with natural, tooth-colored composites. Their reasons may be aesthetic, or simply due to wear. Composite fillings adhere to the tooth structure and form a bond essentially holding the sides together rather than just filling in space.
Bonding restores teeth that are discolored, chipped, cracked, or misaligned. This technique restores teeth to their natural appearance. Bonding involves adhering to composite resin material that is matched to the color of the tooth. This is performed to repair damage caused by decay, to alter the alignment of the tooth, close gaps between the teeth, or for other cosmetic purposes.
First, the surface of the tooth is treated in order to accept the bonding. A gel is applied so the resin will adhere to the surface of the tooth. The composite is then placed on the tooth and the bonding agent hardens with intense light. The last step is sculpting and polishing to give a lustrous finish.
A crown (also referred to as a cap) is used to entirely cover a damaged tooth. A crown not only strengthens a tooth, but can dramatically improve a tooth’s appearance, shape, and alignment.
Crowns may be used to:
It takes two appointments to restore a tooth with a crown. In the first, any decay is removed from the tooth and it is shaped to accept the crown. Then an impression is made of the tooth for use in fabricating a crown. Between the two visits, the crown is made, usually of high-strength porcelain over gold alloy or all-ceramic material. During this time a provisional crown is worn. In the second visit, this provisional is removed. Then the permanent crown is adjusted as needed and then cemented in place.
Crowns and bridges have traditionally been made of porcelain fused to metal or gold. Now thanks to the development of modern all-ceramic, which are incredibly strong and natural-looking, aesthetics and durability become one with the use of all-porcelain crowns.
With a traditional porcelain and metal crown, soft tissue around the tooth can recede, over time, revealing the metal underneath as ugly gray lines. This simply can’t happen with all-porcelain crowns because they are metal-free.
All-porcelain crowns are precision-engineered in state of the art production facilities utilizing a computerized laser scan, CAD/CAM technology which helps with precise fitting and accuracy.
Implant crowns are fabricated over implants much the same way they are made over natural teeth with a few exceptions. No anesthesia is necessary and the impressions are taken utilizing precisely designed implant parts. The dental laboratory will then construct a single crown that will be cemented over the implant.
Modern laboratory technology including 3D imaging software and electronic scanners is utilized to fabricate crowns in a variety of materials including gold, titanium, porcelain, and zirconium.
When replacing a single tooth with an implant, it many times may be possible to provide a patient with a replacement tooth on the same day the implant is placed. In this way, patients have teeth the entire time an implant is healing.
With a single implant and crown, patients can replace missing teeth without damage or alteration to the adjacent teeth. Implant crowns are an excellent treatment to provide patients with natural-looking teeth for both function and cosmetics.
