I had two dental implants placed on front teeth. My dentist plans on doing the crowns soon, including two additional crowns on the adjacent teeth in order to get everything to match. I want it to look beautiful and have some things that are worrying me. I have a high smile that shows gums. Is there a way to address this? I haven’t heard the dentist mention anything about this. After looking some things up, I think I need to avoid porcelain fused to metal crowns and I would need to get my teeth whitened first, not after. Is that correct?
Misty
Dear Misty,
I am glad you are writing before your dentist does this. I am not sure you are with the right dentist to give you the aesthetic result you are hoping for. I see four red flags right off the bat. First, that your dentist did no building up of the gums in preparation for this. Second, he hasn’t discussed with you the crown options. Third, that he is adding two unnecessary crowns in order to get everything to match. Finally, he didn’t address the teeth whitening with you.
I’m going to start with the third one first. Your dealing with front teeth that are particularly tricky to get to look beautiful and natural and it takes a great deal of artistry and experience. If he needs to add crowns in order to just get the color to match, he does not have those qualifications. Why would you want to remove structure from healthy teeth unnecessarily?
Looking at the type of crown you would use. Yes, you will want an all porcelain crown. However, depending on the type of dental implants you received, you may already have a metal base. My guess is your dentist did the traditional titanium implants, which are metal. There are zirconia ones that have a ceramic base, but if your implants are placed, you don’t want to switch them out. This does not mean that you cannot have a beautiful result. What you’ll need is a dentist who knows both how to conceal the border between the implant and your crown, as well as mimic the translucency of a natural tooth while making it opaque enough to cover the base. I’m concerned that your dentist is not the one to do this.
As for the teeth whitening, absolutely you need to do that before your dental crowns are made. The color of your crowns cannot be changed once the are completed.
You found all this information out on your own, without a dental degree. Why hasn’t your dentist? I am going to recommend getting a different dentist for this part of your procedure. Someone who is an expert cosmetic dentist. Don’t try to teach your dentist what to do. It won’t work.
This blog is brought to you by East Cobb Dentist Dr. Cristi Cheek.