Dental Treatments – For an Affordable and Beautiful Smile

By Dr. Jay McCarl, Dr. Clayton McCarl, and Dr. David McCarl

Every dental patient is unique and dentistry should be customized specific to each patient's situation and needs. When a dental patient consults with a dentist about concerns and goals for their smile, a general dentist with advanced dental skills will be able to offer a wide range of dental treatment options.

Combining dental procedures allows a dentist to address their dental patients' unique needs and provide solutions that will create the most attractive smile and the most cost effective option for the patient. A combination case is needed when “just whitening teeth” or covering teeth with “all veneers” or “all crowns” would be inappropriate, unnecessary, or might not be the best way to achieve that dental patient's goals.

In a recent case, a patient wanted to upgrade the “porcelain fused to metal crowns” on her two front teeth which she received following trauma 10 years ago. The crowns were well made but were not attractive. No matter how well made, dental crowns made completely with porcelain (called all-porcelain crowns) look more natural, lifelike and esthetic than crowns made from porcelain fused to metal.

When the patient and dentist discussed the advantages of replacing the porcelain fused to metal crowns with all-porcelain crowns, the patient also wanted to address a slight uneven gum height and small, uneven teeth (lateral incisors) adjacent to the front two teeth. In this case, full crowns would be unnecessary on the lateral teeth so we elected to place minimal preparation veneers (also called thin veneers). Thin veneers eliminated the need for reduction of healthy teeth, and allowed us to improve the size relative to the front two teeth. All four teeth were restored with identical matching porcelain in an attractive white shade chosen by the patient. The gum line was re-contoured and the remaining natural teeth were whitened with beautiful results.

A general dentist skilled in advanced combination dental cases offers patients the best dental materials and procedures to create beautiful smiles. Dentists can often combine dental treatments and dental materials so that the dental patient receives the most cost effective and best esthetic results.