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Planning and Preparing for Dental Procedures: Your Questions Answered


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Planning and Preparing for Dental Procedures: Your Questions Answered

Making decisions about your smile can be confusing. Should you have a tooth pulled or get a root canal? Should you get adult braces or stick with a retainer? Should you use at-home whitening remedies or have your teeth professionally whitened? If questions like these are keeping you up at night, you've come to the right place. I used to stress out over routine dental procedures, and as a result, I did loads of research on everything dental-related. To help others, I'm using this blog as a place to collect, review and share what I've learned through the years. I hope you can use the information here to help you plan and prepare for your next dental appointment.

Why You May Have Different Options When It Comes to Porcelain Veneers

Modern-day dentistry provides a variety of different options when it comes to re-crafting your smile and helping you to achieve a new lease of life, whether at work or at play. Dentists can rebuild teeth that have degraded over time, fill in any "gaps" by using implants and crowns, or restore your outward appearance using a cosmetic option like porcelain veneers. This latter approach has become very popular as people realise how simple it is to restore their appearance, and it may be even more palatable now due to what is known as the "no prep" approach. What does this involve?

Rebuilding the Smile

As you may know, porcelain veneers are placed on top of existing teeth to change both their appearance and functionality. Often, it's necessary to adjust the size or shape of the teeth underneath, so the restoration can be added on top. Sometimes, you may be eligible for a different approach to porcelain veneer services, known as "no prep," which may achieve the same end result with a lot less time in the chair.

The Alternative Option

Using the conventional approach, dentists will often need to do a certain amount of work around or underneath the gum line to create a border and make sure that the veneers will fit comfortably when introduced. However, it may be possible to eliminate much of this prep work by creating a veneer that conforms to the shape of the host tooth and can be attached above the gum line.

If this is possible, the dentist may not have to alter the shape and size of the host tooth as much and may not need to touch the structure of the tooth below the gum.

Best Candidate

People become a good candidate for porcelain veneers for an array of reasons. For example, some teeth may be larger than others, or they may have been worn down by a variety of different factors. Some people tend to grind their teeth at night without realising it, and this can have a long-term bearing on their shape and efficiency as a consequence.

What's Right for You?

Much will depend on the actual case, however, and you need to consult with your cosmetic dentist first to see if you could benefit from the no prep approach or would be best suited to the conventional method.

The first step, therefore, is to book an appointment with your dental professional so that they can draw up the best treatment plan for you.