Bridges, Crowns, and Veneers
It’s common among patients to get quite confused about what these terms mean. Veneers are like crowns, except they are for cosmetic purposes, and are placed on the front surfaces of the teeth only, where as a crown will completely encapsulate the teeth. Veneers are made of porcelain only, and so they are the most aesthetic. While veneers allow your teeth to appear a lot better, the crowns give them more stability and durability.
Veneers, are not as strong as crowns, and as they are cosmetic, they are only for the front 8 or 10 teeth on each arch. We use the e.max veneers, which are considered to be the strongest among the types of veneers in the market. They are also less prone to chipping.
As for the crowns, we offer more options. The PFM is a combination of a metal cap, that has porcelain fused to the outside. The metal is gives a lot of strength, while the porcelain give shape and an aesthetic, and realistic finish and appearance.
If you don’t want any metal on your teeth, then we highly recommend e-max crowns. They are the same material as a veneer, except they encapsulate the entire tooth, which makes them stronger than a veneer, and less likely to get knocked off, while giving the superior luminescence and aesthetic appearance of veneers.
The best crown that we have are made of zirconia. Zirconia is a white, super hard ceramic material, which is made with a high tech process including a laser scan of a casting of the prepared teeth, and a cad/cam program that runs a milling machine to cut the zirconia into a crown. The zirconia crowns are the most durable of any crowns, and with proper hygiene, will last for many years.