Author: PV Smiles Reem Kidess | Posted on with comments
Teeth and mouth irregularities, though mostly known to just affect appearance, can take a toll on your overall dental health. These problems can affect the way you talk, eat, and live your life.
On a side note, who wouldn’t want that perfect Hollywood smile anyway? There’s so much more about having that perfect smile that meets the eye. Now thanks to restorative dentistry, you can get the smile of your dreams in a jiffy.
What is Restorative Dentistry?
Restorative dentistry is a term describing the different dental processes and procedures made to restore both teeth and mouth into a functional and aesthetic state. May it be restoring a missing tooth, or aligning your jaw, these procedures can be done by professional dentists who have experience in the field.
Not all mouth and teeth situations are the same. The procedures done may sometimes be situational, and success can include many factors. That’s why during the process of restoration, management and observation is needed to ensure overall success.
Restorative Dentistry vs Cosmetic Dentistry
There might be some confusion between the two, but here’s to clear it out. While restorative dentistry involves procedures that improve the overall health of the mouth and teeth, cosmetic dentistry takes care of fixing the smile and the appearance of your mouth and teeth.
In other words, cosmetic dentistry is a part of restorative dentistry that focuses more on improving the teeth and mouth’s aesthetics. To understand the ways and principles of cosmetic dentistry, take a look at these interesting infographic below.
Types of Dental Restoration
There are factors, however, that classify dental restoration procedures into two different types. Depending on the extensiveness of the damage, the procedure may either be:
Direct Tooth Restoration
This procedure can be completed in just a one-day visit. It’s done to restore minor damage on the teeth and works to replace the damaged teeth structure by using composite resin.
If you have a minor case of tooth decay, this procedure is applied. However, if the damage reaches through the roots, you’ll need the indirect tooth restoration
Indirect Tooth Restoration
This is recommended by the dentist if there’s not enough structure for the teeth to support the restoration. In this case, a crown or inlay installation might be necessary to aid in the restoration. This may take a much longer time as tooth appliances such as crowns, are needed to be manufactured in a laboratory.
Dental Restoration Procedures
There are a lot of procedures for teeth and mouth restoration. Some of the most common are:
Fillings
Here, damaged teeth are filled with gold, porcelain, silver amalgam, natural-colored plastics, and other materials that are best known as composite resin fillings. Sometimes glass materials (ionomer) are also used to fill in the damage.
Crowns
These are laboratory-manufactured tooth caps shaped like your real teeth. It’s used to restore the size and shape of the tooth, hold a bridge in place, or cover an implant.
Impression processes may take time and multiple visits to the dentist as this will require proper fitting. Crowns are permanent and are made from either porcelain, metals, resin, or a combination of these materials.
Bridges
These are false teeth that work to ‘bridge’ the gaps between real teeth, hence its name. These are cemented into the gums permanently, and anchored on the side by a crown.
Implants
Simply put, these are replacement tooth roots. A small post of titanium metal is placed into the bone socket to replace the missing permanent teeth with the help of an implant dentist. An abutment is then attached, so it can accommodate a crown cover-up.
Dentures
Dentures are teeth replacements that are removable when necessary. Mostly made from acrylic resin, they replace all the teeth completely and will need to remove all the teeth in the process.
Cost of procedures
Since process, materials, and procedures vary depending on the damage of teeth and the preference of the patient, costs may not be accurate. The average ballpark figures show procedure prices from $30,000 to $90,000 in the US.
It is imperative that before undergoing any procedure, you should ask for recommendations of your dentist, and ask about the options you’ll need. The same procedures can cause more or less depending on the materials used and other factors, so best to talk it out with a dentist you can trust.
Restorative dentistry involves minor and major procedures that you’ll have to spend time and money on. To make the most of it, make sure to choose the best professionals who will give you excellent-rate service that’s worth all the costs, time, and pain.
Dr. Reem Kidess, Scottsdale sedation and cosmetic dentist, can show you how the best professional care for your teeth should be. With the most advanced tools and facilities available, your way to that million-dollar smile is just an appointment away. Schedule with us today!
