Here’s a better view of the situation. The orthodontist moved the teeth to the right spot, but there still appears to be too much space between these two. It is not actually a tooth-position problem, but in fact is a tooth SHAPE discrepancy. With a bit of bonding we can add to both these teeth and dramatically close the spacing.
After whitening we placed crowns on some front teeth DRAMATICALLY improving their appearance! But….can you tell which teeth have the crowns and which are natural??? Look closely…..
And here’s a final look at our before:
Fractured bonding
And after whitening and 2 veneers:
Final Veneer photos
And the veneers for these teeth came out great! The patient was SOOOO excited!!
New veneers
This was the day we put them in, so the tissue has not had time to fill in between the two central incisors. But in a few more weeks the tissue will have completely healed and you won’t be able to tell that ANYTHING has been done!
This sweet lady had been seeing another dentist for many years, but continues to have problems with her front teeth. The bonding she has on these teeth continues to periodically fracture and has started to look bad. She wanted to know her alternatives, as she is tired of continually having these teeth broken and repaired. Look at how they meet the bottom teeth. What would you see as your possible options?
Fractured bonding
So this area had too much space after braces, but everything else was ideal. Some patients would be fine with the space between these teeth, but it REALLY bothered this patient. So our solution was to add a bit of bonding to either tooth, closing the gap and making it look better.
At what point does a tooth need a veneer? We’ll discuss the criteria I use at a later date, but this nice young lady was told she needed veneers on these teeth. Now I’ll admit the teeth are not too pretty with the chipped and broken edges, but does it REALLY require veneers to properly restore them???
Chipped, broken teeth-before bonding
Here’s a patient that was told she’d need veneers due to the ’severe’ chipping and breakage of her front teeth. Now of course she didn’t like how the teeth looked, but she wondered if she really need something as costly and invasive as a veneer. Take a look below….what do you think??
Chipped, broken teeth-before bonding
And here’s the other side, with a much smaller original-sized tooth, and the bonding afterwards:
Small lateral incisor before bonding
Small lateral after bonding
The second option is for the orthodontist to move the laterals into the middle of the space. The restorative dentist can then create ideally sized teeth. This gives the orthodontist the correct proportions for all the front teeth and allows the orthodontics to be finished without worrying about leaving spaces that are exact. However, it is a more difficult task for the restorative dentist.
Stone model during orthodontics
