Veneers/Full Porcelain Crowns

To improve this patient’s smile we re-contoured the gumline, and placed Porcelain Veneers on her upper ten teeth. By including ten teeth we achieved a fuller looking smile. Before, this beautiful young woman always wore a guarded smile, now she shows it off every chance she gets.

One of the most common issues that patients want to have corrected with veneers is crooked teeth because having braces is not an option that they would choose, to take care of the problem. This patient not only wanted to have straighter teeth, but she also wanted to have a breathtaking smile. Dr. Testa transformed her smile by placing a combination of Full Porcelain Crowns and Porcelain Veneers on the upper ten teeth. Dr. Testa definitely gave the patient what she wanted and what her husband thought was breathtaking, when he saw her new smile for the first time on their wedding day.

In some situations crowning almost every tooth in the mouth is needed but not necessary for cosmetic reasons. Some patients have functional issues that require crowning many teeth. The fringe benefits are that a beautiful smile is produced in result; such is the case with this patient. Dr. Testa found that this patient had functional issues with his bite and decay. His main concern was that he did not like the crowding or color of his teeth. He also did not like that his lower teeth arched like "a rainbow". As with most of our patients we recommend a more conservative orthodontic treatment, but due to his decay issues orthodontics would not solve all of his problems. He chose to have a straighter, whiter smile and he wanted to change the shapes of his teeth. With a combination of the upper veneers, full porcelain crowns and 6 lower crowns we were able to give him a smile that he was excited about.

Dr. Testa specializes in creating smiles that are very natural in appearance. Just because you have Full Porcelain Crowns done, does not mean that you have to look like you just had cosmetic work done. The patient suffered from erosion of the enamel on the tongue side due to citrus acids and gastric reflux. This also made her teeth very sensitive. She was able to create a very beautiful, natural look for this patient.

When it comes to Cosmetic Dentistry, besides finding a doctor with a good aesthetic eye, finding a doctor who does quality work is very important. Sometimes convenience of location and cost will sway a patient’s decision of where and with whom to have the treatment performed with. Unfortunately, sometimes the “convenient and low cost” doctor doesn’t also have the “high quality and good aesthetic eye” characteristics. This patient consulted with Dr. Testa about Veneers because she had extremely bad tetracycline staining but decided to have the treatment done elsewhere. She came back to us in temporaries and we finished her case. The patient was thrilled with the results and regretted not having Dr. Testa do the treatment in the first place.

Some patients just want a change, and this patient had been wanting change for a long time. We made a dramatic difference by recontouring her gumline. We made the teeth look longer by removing gum tissue and exposing more of the tooth rather than by adding length to the bottom of the crowns. Her face and smile look rejuvenated by making a change she has always wanted.

Some people do not realize how much they “guard” their smile. They may put their hand over their mouth when they laugh, or they may concentrate on not showing their teeth when they talk and smile, or may not smile at all. This patient met and worked with people all through out the day and could not keep coming up with ways to guard his smile without bringing more attention to it. Finally, he decided he did not want to have to worry about it. Dr. Testa created a smile for him that he enjoys showing off every time he smiles, in fact we did not know that he liked to smile that much!

Bonding

Some professions do not require face to face contact, some do. This patient’s profession not only required face to face contact, but because she is in the beauty industry so her face to face contact is very up-close and personal. She had bonding done in the past but over time it chipped off exposing the spaces and small teeth that she wanted to cover up in the first place. After recontouring the patient’s gums Dr. Testa did Full Bonded Veneers and created a very natural look for the patient. Now she is definitely ready to get as up-close and personal as she needs to.

This patient had existing bonding that over time had discolored. Dr. Testa removed the original bonding and stain from the teeth. She placed new bonding that would cover the entire tooth, by covering the entire tooth; Dr. Testa can make more changes to the shape and color of the tooth. In about two hours Dr. Testa was able to bring new life to the patient’s smile.

For some people, a little can go a long way. There is a misconception that to have an absolutely beautiful smile you have to crown every tooth in your mouth. Dr. Testa proved that theory wrong with this patient. By simply bleaching his teeth and bonding the lower edges of the patient’s upper teeth, Dr. Testa made big improvements with very little changes.

Some cases are really borderline; the case can look like it is too extensive for Bonding to handle, yet too minor to be corrected with Veneers. In these types of situations Dr. Testa really relies on the patient to make the final decision. She will present what it ideal to create the perfect smile and she will also present what is enough to make the patient happy. In this case the most ideal option would be Veneers because on the size of the spaces between each tooth and the shape of the teeth, however the patient chose to do Full Bonded Veneers to be more conservative with tooth structure. Doing the Full Bonded Veneers was a challenge that Dr. Testa obviously conquered, and conquered beautifully.