When you think of having a dental filling or crown placed, you probably don’t think of the procedure as falling under the category of cosmetic dentistry. It’s true that we generally consider these treatments as restorative procedures; they are intended to restore the structure of your damaged tooth so you can bite and chew your food, speak clearly, and save the tooth from extraction. Actually, says Dr. Todd Pizzi, a cosmetic dentist in Shrewsbury, MA, sometimes a restorative procedure has more aesthetically pleasing results.
Composite Fillings
Unless you’ve had a filling recently, you might not be aware of new dental materials available to treat cavities. Until a few years ago, having a cavity meant receiving a metal amalgam filling. It was better than doing without treatment, but a highly visible glint of metal certainly wasn’t an attractive option. Forgoing a filling almost always meant the decay would spread throughout the tooth until a filling was no longer adequate to repair the damage. Instead, a crown was needed. In extreme cases, the tooth was so badly affected that an extraction was the only option.
Today your Worcester dentist offers white fillings crafted of composite resin. Unlike metal, the color of composite is totally customizable, so it can be perfectly matched to the remaining tooth structure and the surrounding teeth. You no longer need to worry that your restoration is visible to others when you speak, eat, or yawn. Clearly, composite has its cosmetic advantages.
Porcelain Dental Crowns
Sometimes the damage to a tooth is so severe that a filling is no longer an option. For example, the tooth may become infected throughout, in which case root canal treatment is the only viable choice. Once your dentist has carefully removed the infected nerves and cleaned the affected area, he seals it and tops your tooth with a crown. As with fillings, traditional dental materials for crowns were hardly aesthetically pleasing; silver and gold were most commonly used. These materials were durable, but there was no mistaking them for your natural tooth.
At Modern Dentistry of Shrewsbury, we offer porcelain crowns. Like composite, dental ceramic can be matched to any shade of tooth enamel, allowing us to subtly restore your tooth. Better still, our E4D machine crafts your custom dental crowns while you wait–no need to return at a later date.
Interested in white fillings and crowns? To learn more about restorative and cosmetic dentistry in Shrewsbury, MA, or to schedule an appointment with one of our dentists, contact us at (508) 842-8838. We welcome residents of Shrewsbury, Worcester, Boylston, Hopkinton, North and South Grafton, and neighboring cities.
