The term dental veneers and crowns mean different things to different people. However, when you see a dentist advertising dental veneers and crowns it should mean that they know how to resurface your teeth, fix broken teeth or reshape your teeth.

What Are Dental Veneers?

A dental veneer is a thin layer of restorative material that is bonded to your existing teeth to fill in gaps and correct the appearance of misshapen of chipped teeth. At the same time a veneer should improve the colour of your teeth giving them a smoother and brighter appearance.

There are two main type of dental veneer. The main type is composite veneer which is applied directly to your existing teeth. The other type is porcelain veneers which are fabricated by your dentist and bonded to your teeth. Nowadays, composite veneers are more common and less likely to debond than porcelain veneers.

What Are Crowns?

Crowns are similar to veneers in that they too cover imperfections in a tooth. However, they are made and applied in very different ways. A crown normally encompasses the whole tooth and can repair far bigger imperfections than a veneer and protect the underlying tooth which may be necessary , particularly if the tooth is heavily filled or root-treared.

Each crown is tailor made outside of the mouth by the dentist and is bonded to your tooth at a later date.

Good Dental Veneers and Crowns Take Skill and Experience

Where you get your dental veneers and crowns done is very important. The more experienced and skilled the dentist is the better. Getting dental veneers and crowns to look natural and stay in place for decades is very much an art form, which some people liken to sculpture. This means that it is important to see examples of previous work your dentist has done and to discuss how each individual tooth can be repaired before going ahead with this kind of work.