Show #282 Airing: Sunday, January 30, 2005
A veneer. Isn’t that a thin decorative layer of wood that you glue over a lower quality material? And a crown, that’s a hat for a king. So what are veneers and crowns when they’re in our mouths? Here to present our class in Dentistry 101, is our tutor of teeth, our sage of smiles, Doctor Steven Marsh.
Question: We’ve shown lots of examples of cosmetic makeovers. And while the results are clear, sometimes people have questions on how you got there.
Answer: Yes. There’s sometime confusion about some of the terminology. For example, what’s a veneer vs. a crown.
Question: What IS the difference?
Answer: It’s easier to see if you have a model. This is a veneer. It’s made entirely of porcelain and is crafted to be translucent and natural looking. It covers the front of the tooth and wraps around to cover part of the back.
This is a crown. It’s also made of porcelain and covers the front of the tooth, but it wraps around and covers the entire back, giving extra support.
Sometimes, for the back teeth, we use crowns that are porcelain on the outside and gold inside. Model. This lends additional strength to biting teeth.
Question: Let’s see some examples. First a case where you used veneers.
Answer: This patient had good teeth—they had little decay and weren’t terribly worn. However, they were positioned incorrectly and were disproportionate to one another. The front teeth were large and the lateral teeth to the side were too small to balance them. Therefore veneers were used to properly align and lengthen the teeth.
Question: Now for crowns.
Answer: Here we have old crowns that are discolored and no longer straight. We’ve replaced them with new crowns. Porcelain in the front, porcelain on gold for the back, biting teeth.
Question: Can you use both?
Answer: Yes, and this before and after brings together both veneers and crowns to correct teeth that were very worn.
Question: When would you use crowns instead of veneers?
Answer: Use crowns when veneer wouldn’t give tooth enough strength, e.g., when there’s a lot of decay.
Question: Can you give us an example of when to use a veneer?
Answer:
- Good teeth, little decay.
- Not positioned correctly, and disproportionate.
- Front large, sides too small.
- Veneers to align and lengthen.
Question: Would you give us an example of when you'd use crowns?
Answer: Old crowns discolored and not straight. Replaced with new, porcelain on gold in back.
The language of dentistry is complicated, but the results can be simply amazing. A new beautiful smile. My thanks to Dr. Steven Marsh.
