Closing in multiple tooth gaps by placing dental crowns.
This digital smile makeover illustrates a situation where dental crowns, as opposed to porcelain veneers, make the best choice for closing in the spaces between a person’s teeth.
While both approaches can provide a similar cosmetic end result, dental crowns possess greater strength than veneers. In this case, the tooth wear that’s visible confirms that these teeth are exposed to significant forces.
Case issues and concerns:
The center six upper teeth have gaps between them.
The center two show a lot of wear, probably due to tooth grinding. (The worn edges of the lower teeth opposite them support this theory.)
The lateral incisors, the teeth that flank the center teeth, seem very small (suggesting that their crown portion has been affected by some type of developmental abnormality).
Lightening the color of the teeth might be considered.
On a positive note:
The lower teeth have a reasonable appearance.
“Before” photo submitted by website visitor.
Treatment solutions:
1) Closing the spaces using dental crowns. –
Our “after” picture shows how this person’s smile could be improved upon by making shape changes with his center six upper teeth.
Crowns would make the best choice for creating these changes (as compared to porcelain veneers). This is because, as you can see in the “before” picture, the biting edges of all of these teeth are chipped and worn.
This wear suggests that this person clenches and grinds their teeth. (Dentists refer to this activity as “bruxing.”) And due to these conditions, dental crowns, because they have greater strength and can better withstand these types of excessive forces, offer a more lasting treatment solution than veneers.
2) Teeth whitening treatments could be an option. –
We didn’t really address the issue of tooth color in our “after” picture. If one is desired, however, either in-office or at-home treatments could be utilized.
This treatment would need to be completed before the dental crowns were made. (Only teeth will respond to tooth-whitening treatments, not dental crowns.)