Restorative Dentistry 101: All You Need to Know
When you want to fix your missing, broken, or damaged teeth, the treatment you choose is referred to as restorative dental treatment. Why? Because it solves the dental problem and restores the teeth to their optimal function.
What is Restorative Dentistry?
Restorative dentistry is the diagnosing, treating, and management of the teeth and their supporting structures. The various treatments are geared to replace damaged and missing teeth.
Restorative dentistry is multifaceted. This means it includes treatment from other areas such as orthodontics, periodontal, and prosthodontics.
What Dental Problems Does It Fix?
While there are different reasons that a dentist near you in Flower Mound, TX can recommend restorative dental treatments, the most common dental problems to benefit include:
- Missing teeth
- Broken, chipped, and fractured teeth
- Gaps in your teeth
- Decayed teeth
Are Restorative and Cosmetic Dental Services the Same?
Cosmetic and restorative dental treatments use the same procedure code and material, but they are different in the purpose. Cosmetic dental treatments are designed to help improve the aesthetic of the teeth. These services include teeth whitening and veneers among others.
Restorative dental treatments, on the other hand, purpose to restore the teeth that have been damaged because of disease, injury, or accident.
What Are the Type of Restorative Treatments?
Some of the restorative dental treatments include:
- Dental bridges
When you have two or more missing teeth and do not want to undergo invasive dental surgery, dental bridges will be ideal.
Dental bridges for missing teeth are used to close the gaps of two or more missing teeth. These dental fixtures are made of two dental crowns and a false tooth. These crowns are fixed on the adjacent teeth of the missing tooth.
Dental bridges are fixed in two or three dental visits, and they are very durable. However, one downside of having bridges is that the enamel needs to be trimmed off to make room for the crowns. This is an irreversible process, meaning you will need dental crowns as long as you have the teeth.
- Dental Implants
Teeth implants are a great alternative to bridges. These are metal posts fixed on the jawbone to act as roots and anchor the false teeth. The implants offer a permanent dental solution for your missing teeth. However, you need a strong bone density to support the implants. If not, the dentist may recommend a procedure to help in bone growth.
- Dentures
Dentures in Flower Mound, TX, are another solution for missing teeth. The dentures can either be fixed or removable. These dental devices are ideal if you have multiple teeth missing.
For those with less than half of the teeth missing, the partial dentures are suitable. These are anchored in place with a metal clasp.
Complete dentures are recommended when you have more than half of all your teeth missing. You can also choose the permanent implant-supported dentures. But, you need sufficient bone density to have them fixed.
- Dental crowns
Dental crowns are tooth-colored restorations that replace substantial missing teeth caused by dental decay, root canals, or fractures. Crowns offer full coverage that restores the size, shape, appearance, and tooth function.
The decision to get dental crowns will depend on the function, location, gum tissue positioning, and the condition of the surrounding teeth.
- Dental bonding
Dental bonding is the use of composite resin to bond and cover cracked and chipped teeth. Bonding can also be used to close gaps in between your teeth. The dental bonding process is a non-invasive and fast procedure, rarely does the dentist uses local anesthesia unless you have decay. In this case, a root canal procedure is done to remove the cavities before the teeth are bonded.
- Inlays and onlays
These are partial tooth restoration made of tooth-colored porcelain that is used to restore smaller areas of the damaged tooth. Inlays and onlays are non-invasive indirect restorations, meaning the dentist will fix them outside the teeth.
Take Away
Visit Smile Craft Dental for more information on dental restorations and how they can fix your smile and restore your teeth’s function.