What's the difference between Veneers, Crowns and Bridges?

Please note the following pictures of celebrities and/or individual before/after pictures are taken from the internet for educational and illustration purposes, they are not done in our office.

So what is the difference between crown, veneers and bridges?

Dental Veneers, Crowns and Bridges are made in the lab because the material used to form them requires high heat and must be done in the laboratory oven.

The above images are of Celebrity smiles with before and after Veneers placement. Wow.. what a difference?

Lets start with Crowns! A crown is a strong cap that looks and feels like the patient's real tooth which is cemented onto the tooth that is crowned. A crown provides stability and protection to the tooth from strong chewing forces. Most of the time when a tooth needs to be crowned is due to the following reasons:
Root Canal Treatment - Too much tooth structure is lost either due to the cavity or large restoration that caused the root canal and/or the hole made on the tooth to perform the root canal.
Large Restorations - If the restoration is too large and the tooth already has some craze lines due to strong forces, the tooth should get a crown to avoid breakage.

A Bridge on the other hand might be required not because the tooth requires protection, but to close a space created by tooth loss. When a tooth is lost, the rest of the teeth tend to move towards each other and cause a lot of problems such as more tooth loss and gum irritation. Since there is space, the teeth right next to the space tend to get more force from chewing. Therefore those teeth tend to start moving and shifting, causing the patient to loose more teeth.

A bridge usually the two teeth next to the space for anchorage. The teeth need to be prepared (cut smaller) in order for the bridge to be cemented onto the teeth. This is the main reason why a single implant is a better choice than a 3 unit bridge. However some patients may be bad candidates for implants and the best option would be getting the bridge.

Veneers are a little more different than Crowns and Bridges mainly beause Veneers are done for esthetic reasons. Meaning, Veneers are done to make the patient look better because it tends to change the color, shape and size of the teeth. Veneers are mainly done on the anteriors since they tend to show when a person smiles. Veneers are also done to close a diastema which is space between two teeth. Also, some patients with discolored teeth mainly from tetracycline tend to get Veneers to mask the color since regular bleaching doesn't remove internal pigmentation of teeth.

Normally it takes two visits to get a crown, bridge or veneers done. The first day is the preparation of the tooth along with an impression taking. Which is getting a duplicate of your teeth and sent to the lab. This is the longest appointment of the two since most of the work is done the first visit. Second visit is cementation.

The best thing about changing your entire smile with Veneers, Crowns or Bridges is time. From start to finish it takes about 2 to 3 weeks. In comparison to Veneers, Orthodontics is also used to close gaps and straighten teeth. However, wearing Braces or Invisalign will take up to 2 years and cost about 4 to 5 thousand dollars. Even if the teeth get straight with Orthodontics, the size, shape and color of your teeth will remain the same. Veneers on the other hand will give you a totally different look - changing the size, color, shape and even closing out the gaps between the teeth in only 2 to 3 weeks.

With Veneers, Crowns or Bridges, the results are excellent because all of the restorations promote natural looking teeth that are both functional, esthetically beautiful and less time consuming.

Dr. Armine Ohanian is a perfectionist when it comes to cosmetic dentistry. Her vision and imagination when it comes to treatment planning for best results even surprise the patient's own expectations. Not every dentist is gifted in cosmetic dentistry. Don't take any chances with any other dentist because you only have one life.. and one smile!

Please call Adult and Kid's Dental Care (818)881-6761 to ask questions about a FREE consultation on Veneers, Crowns, Bridges and Full Mouth Reconstruction.

Now a days Veneers are affordable and you too can be like a Celebrity!

What are Dental Implants?

Dental Implants in simple terms is when a tooth is lost, an artifical root, which is made out of titanium screw, is surgically placed inside the bone. An abutment with its crown is what you see above the gum when an implant is restored. It is best to leave the implant inside the bone to heal for about 5-6 moths before restoring it with an abutment - crown. This is done mainly to insure the implant is going to be stable after the patient starts using the tooth to eat.

If an implant starts to move after the patient starts using it, that means the implant has failed and needs to be removed. After several months of healing the bone or even adding bone graft to the area, a new implant may be placed into that area again.

Implant surgery is not painful at all mainly because the bone has no nerve. Since an implant is screwed inside the bone, the patient shouldn't feel too uncomfortable since what we sense as pain is transmitted only through nerves.

Since implants are placed inside the bone, they tend to stay in even after the patient looses the rest of his/her natural teeth. Therefore, if you have the choice to choose between a bridge, which are prosthetic crowns fused together to close a gap, and an implant, you should always choose the implant since the bridge is cemented on your natural teeth which sooner or later will fail or will fall out because of gum disease. Since implants are placed inside the bone and not around tissue, they will never be prone to get loose because of periodontal disease. Our natural teeth have periodontal ligaments lining all around their roots whereas an implant does not have any contact with periodontal ligaments and it is only associated with bone.

Before placing implants, a CT scan is a good indicator of where nerves are located as well as estimating how much bone the dentist has to work with in order to place the implant. According to the CT scan, Dr. Ohanian is able to choose the right size, length, as well as the positioning of the implant in order to avoid any complications.

If the implants are to be place on the bottom jaw for example, the inferior alveolar nerve as well as the mental nerve are to be payed extra attention since they tend to run along the jaw from the back to the premolar areas.

On the back side of the maxilla(upper) for example, the sinuses need to be payed attention mainly to avoid the implant from penetrating inside.

Implants may also be placed on edentulous (no teeth present) areas and an overdenture or a bridge placed on top to provide better security than conventional dentures.

If you are a new patient or an existing patient, call our office for a FREE dental implant consultation. Dr. Ohanian does implant placement surgery and restoration in our office. Consultation will only take few minutes as she examines your mouth and palpates the gums to check for bone mass. In some cases, one X-Ray may be required for better diagnosis.

Call Adult and Kid's Dental Care to schedule in your free consultation (818)881-6761.

Welcome

Greetings our fellow patients.

Welcome to Adult and Kid's Dental Care. We have created this website to educate our patients a little more about oral care and all the dental procedures that we offer here in our office.

At the bottom of the page you will find videos that will demonstrate dental procedures and home care. Please take advantage of this opportunity to learn more about dental procedures and better your oral health.

If you currently are not one of our patients, we would love to have you as one of our new patients here at Adult and Kid's Dental Care. We are a family dentistry that have been caring for patients of all ages.

Please call us to ask any questions about your treatment plan or if you are a new patient, call to ask about our new patient packages.

For those patients where English is the second language, we also speak Spanish and Armenian.

Please call our office (818)881-6761 and ask us about:

Dental Implants - Veneers - Crowns - Bridges - Full Mouth Cosmetic Reconstruction - Teeth Whitening - Oral Surgery - Impacted Teeth Removal - Gum Treatment - Deep Cleaning - Complete Dentures - Partial Dentures - Valplast - Invisalign and many more...