Veneers, Crowns and Bridge Work
We offer a range of different crowns, veneers and Bridge Work.
Crowns
From the most advanced, Porcelain only, crowns (eg. Procera and Inceram crowns), Porcelain bonded to metal crowns (eg. Duceragold) to full gold crowns.
Veneers
Porcelain veneers are used to improve the aesthetics of front teeth, such as shape, size and colour. After minimal preparation of the tooth’s enamel surface, the thin shells of porcelain are permanently bonded in place to give you a brand-new smile!
Composite Resin Veneers: this type of veneer is made from plastic and is bonded directly on to the existing surface of your tooth. Our usual way of carrying out this treatment is to directly build a layer of plastic on to your tooth while you sit in the chair. Although we can get them made for you and fit them later. These approaches are both cost effective and requires no drilling of the tooth. Composite resin does wear and usually requires replacement after 5-7 years. If it is fractured this material can be repaired.
Porcelain Veneers: porcelain veneers are made in a dental laboratory once we have taken a small layer of tooth away on the face of a tooth and the biting edge and then bond the veneer into place.
This type of veneer gives the ultimate in shape and colour and at the same time adds to the strength of a fragile tooth.
Porcelain veneers are strong and reliable and we expect them to last 10-15years.
Crowns
Often referred to as “caps” because once a tooth has been prepared; the new restoration completely covers the whole part of the tooth that sits above the gum line(crown).
Crowns can be made of gold, porcelain fused to metal, or straight porcelain. They are very strong and hold together heavily filled teeth that are at risk of cracking.
Crowns are made when a tooth is heavily filled, broken down or grossly discolored and requires strengthening primarily and to have good cosmetics.
We choose crowns from a range of materials; porcelain, gold, zirconia and porcelain fused metal. We expect crowns to last 15-20 years. Both veneers and crowns look cosmetically excellent.
When Patients Don’t Like the Shape of the Teeth: Teeth don’t always have the desired shape i.e. pointed, too small, spaced out of alignment or worn. Composite veneering, porcelain veneering or sometimes crowns can be used to cosmetically enhance the front teeth. Usually this involves teeth we consider to be in the smile line in other words what we see when someone smiles.
What materials and approach we take depends on what will work successfully, look ideal and what suits the budget. We at Dental on Raffles use all approaches although in the past few years we have become great fans of the composite veneering system. It is very cost effective, is reparable if there are any breakages of the composite resin, doesn’t damage the teeth in any way and has reasonable life span.
Reconstruction of Broken, Worn, Missing and Heavily Filled Teeth: As we go through life our teeth can end up weakened from having large fillings, wear and tear and accidents. There also may be missing teeth. For those of us who want to preserve our teeth and keep them for as long as possible, Dental on Raffles have very talented operators who have advanced education to give excellent advice and develop treatment plans to completely rehabilitate failing teeth.
To achieve this long term successful result, veneers, crowns, bridgework and implants are used.
Every mouth is different and each has their own treatment challenges. We discuss options, make treatment plans, work to budgets and patient timelines to get the best result.
Tooth Bridges
A bridge is just like a crown in its preparation, however the teeth either side of the gap both get prepared to support the ‘bridge’ or fake tooth in between.
Bridgework is usually made up for us in a dental laboratory from either porcelain, porcelain fused to metal and back teeth sometimes gold alloy.
When cosmetics are, important bridges are made to match closely to your natural teeth.
The other great thing about bridgework is that it is permanently fixed to your teeth and it behaves much like natural teeth to chew upon.
Sometimes bridgework can be used as an alternative to implant treatment.
Maryland Bridge: An alternative sometimes to conventional bridgework is the Maryland Bridge.
This type of bridge is bonded on to the surface of teeth without any major drilling of the teeth which is a great advantage especially for teeth that have never been filled.
Usually Maryland Bridges replace a single lost tooth.
