If you've always despised how your smile looks due to having a missing or discolored tooth, you should highly consider the benefits of getting a dental crown installed. All-porcelain dental crowns look just like natural teeth and are highly recommended by many dentists as a result. They cost anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000 each depending on where you live, but they give you the opportunity to customize how the crowns will look. Here are 3 things you should keep in mind when customizing your dental crowns in order to rest assured that the crowns will look natural.
The Color of the Dental Crowns
Everyone's teeth are a different color and shade. You'll definitely want to take the time to get a correct color match in order to determine what color is best suited for your situation. Tooth color is usually divided into 4 different basic shades. You can choose from a reddish brown hue, a reddish yellow hue, a gray hue, and a reddish gray hue. After choosing the right shade, you'll also have to figure out which brightness level to go with.
Depending on how happy you are with the color of your smile, you can either match the color of the dental crowns to your natural teeth or you can get your teeth professionally whitened first. As dental crowns cannot be stained or whitened, you'll want to choose a shade and hue that matches the color of your teeth after it has been whitened. If you don't, the color and shade of the dental crown will not match its neighbors. This makes it painfully obvious which teeth are artificially made and which teeth are natural.
The Shape of the Dental Crowns
Depending on whether you're getting dental crowns for the teeth at the front or the molars, you might also want to consider the type of shape that would best suit your facial features. For example, if the dental crowns are meant to replace your incisors, you should know that rectangular incisors will make you look younger while square incisors will make you look older. This is because you wear your incisors down from regular use the older that you get.
If you are getting molars, the indentations at the top of the crown should also be taken into consideration. To ensure that the crowns will be comfortable, the indentations at the top should match adjacent teeth. Your dentist should give you a simulated preview on how your smile will look with the dental crowns in place. This might help you determine which shape may be best.
The Size of the Dental Crowns
When customizing dental crowns, you can also take this opportunity to determine whether you want to change the size of the dental crowns from the corresponding natural teeth. If you have peg-shaped incisors, larger dental crowns can help fill in the gaps and give you a more balanced smile. The size of the dental crowns will also be influenced by the amount of jawbone you have.
When choosing the right size, you'll need to consider whether the original size resulted in any gaps. You also need to consider whether a different size would be more aesthetically pleasing. For example, if the surrounding teeth tend to be rather long, you might want the dental crowns to match the height of the surrounding teeth.
Conclusion
With dental crowns costing an arm and a leg, you have a lot of say in regards to what the finished product will look like. If you're not happy with the dental crowns you've received, speak to your dentist in order to figure out whether you can send them back for the necessary modifications. Don't get them installed until you're absolutely happy with what you're getting. Contact a dental clinic like Sunnyside Dentistry for Children-David E Doyle, DDS for more information.
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