Braces as an adult? No way. At least, that was what I thought when my dentist told me that I was going to have to see an orthodontist about my crooked teeth. But my teeth were so misaligned that they were causing me pain when I chewed, so I decided to at least look into it. Turns out braces today are nothing like the ones my friends had when I was a kid. Mine were practically invisible, and I didn't need to wear them that long. I started this blog to encourage other people like me who are nervous about the prospect of wearing braces as an adult. My straight smile is so worth the trips to the orthodontist, and wearing braces was nowhere near as bad as I thought. Read on to find out more about how you can straighten your smile.
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A lateral incisor tooth located near the front of your mouth helps the central front teeth in grabbing onto food for chewing. When a lateral incisor tooth chips, you might find biting food difficult or painful and can experience self-esteem issues due to the highly visible location of the chipped tooth.
There are a few different dental treatment options available for a chipped lateral incisor from a dental clinic in your area that specializes in damaged tooth correction. What are the potential treatments for a chipped lateral incisor? The best answer depends on the severity and location of the chip.
Small Front Chip: Resin Bond
Does the tooth only have a small but noticeable chip on the front-facing part of the central incisor? The dentist might treat the chip with an affordable, fast, and removable treatment: the resin dental bond.
The resin bond is affordable, fast, and removable for the same reasons: the moldable clay-like resin adheres directly to the tooth surface rather than requiring lab-creation and dental cement, which would in turn require dental shaving. Your dentist will form the bond directly over the chipped area then harden the piece into place using a special light.
If you change your mind later and want a veneer or crown, the dentist can simply remove the bond and put on the new piece.
Large Front Chip: Porcelain Veneer
Larger or irregularly shaped chips on the front of the tooth can require more precision so the dentist would want to use a prosthodontics treatment that is crafted in a lab based on molds of the chipped tooth. Porcelain veneers fit that bill.
The veneers require cementing to the front of the tooth so the dentist will need to use a drill to shave down some of the enamel and dentin to create a rough surface perfect for adhesion. Once the veneer is cemented into place, the porcelain will have greater durability than resin. But you still want to use caution when biting directly into a hard food like apples.
Entire Tooth Chip: Metal-Backed Dental Crown
Does the entire lateral incisor have a substantial chip that goes through the whole tooth? Your dentist might want to rebuild the tooth using a lab-crafted dental crown, which is like a veneer that covers all sides of the tooth instead of just the front.
Crowns come in the natural-looking porcelain material that makes up veneers. But porcelain alone doesn't offer a ton of strength even when the bite force is distributed across the whole tooth's crown. Metal-backed porcelain offers more strength while still maintaining the natural outward look for the tooth.
For more information, contact local professionals like West Gate Dental.
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