Dental Implants vs. Veneers: Best Cosmetic Dentistry
Enhancing your smile means being able to walk into a room of friends or family members and feel confident about the way you look. Your teeth are an accessory that you get to show off every day. When they’re vibrant and healthy, you look your best. But if you feel self-conscious about cosmetic flaws — like chipped enamel, gaps, stained teeth or missing ones — you may not be able to share your smile at all.
The best cosmetic dentistry options can fix that. By pairing restorative and aesthetic options like Newport Beach veneers or dental implants, you can regain a newfound confidence that helps you put your best face forward.
Although Newport Beach veneers and dental implants are two of the best cosmetic dentistry options available, they play two uniquely separate roles when it comes to enhancing your smile. Understanding the benefits of each one can help you make an informed decision about which investment is best for your smile’s needs.
Newport Beach Dental Implants: The Perks
Dental implants are one of the best treatments for replacing missing teeth. Not only are they non-invasive to your other teeth, implants also promote healthy bone and facial support, allowing your smile to look healthier and younger.
Implants are topped off with a custom porcelain restoration; usually a crown or bridge (for a set of implants). It’s these restorations that replace the portion of tooth that’s visible when you smile. The implant itself is the “root” portion of the tooth structure.
Our Newport Beach dental implants are an excellent choice for situations involving:
- Extensive tooth loss
- Replacing teeth after an extraction
- Alternative to a traditional bridge
- Stabilizing a denture
- Single tooth replacement
Since they serve a restorative role, dental implants go beyond the “cosmetic” benefits of replacing missing teeth. And although they strengthen your smile, they also complement your appearance by helping your bite look healthy and whole.
Dr. Desiree Yazdan can also specify the shape and color of your implant crown, allowing the final restoration to compliment your surrounding smile.
Unlike dental veneers, an implant is used for structural reconstruction of missing or unsound teeth (that need to be extracted.) They are not recommended in areas where you have otherwise healthy teeth that can be preserved.
Newport Beach Veneers: When to Choose Them
Dental veneers are an optimal aesthetic solution for teeth with surface flaws. For instance, you might want a set of veneers if your teeth:
- Look crooked
- Have small gaps between them
- Appear short or uneven
- Are affected by surface stains or deep discoloration
- Have mild to moderate chipping
Unlike implants, our Newport Beach veneers are designed to place over stable, otherwise healthy teeth. They don’t work in instances where a tooth is missing. Why? Because veneers are thin porcelain fronts that bond to the part of your teeth that’s visible when you’re smiling. A veneer slightly overlaps the edges and sides of the individual tooth, so that the natural surface behind it is hidden from plain view.
Veneers are placed across multiple teeth, allowing them to recreate a consistent appearance from one side of your smile to the other. Depending on the width of your smile (everyone is different) or how many teeth show when you’re talking/laughing, you may need anywhere from 6-10 veneers or more. In most cases, Dr. Yazdan usually only places them across the upper front teeth.
Since veneers can only be placed on stable teeth, they don’t play the same restorative role that you would see with dental implants. Rather, they’re strictly aesthetic in nature. Although a veneer can repair minor surface irregularities such as small cracks or chips in enamel, they don’t offer the full coverage protection one would see with a traditional crown. In other words, we wouldn’t recommend placing them on a tooth with severe structural damage or dental decay. And compared to dental implants, veneers cannot replace a missing tooth.
Cosmetic veneers are ideal when you have healthy teeth and gums but want to change the way your teeth look (in the least time possible.) You usually won’t need to whiten or wear braces, but the veneers can make your teeth appear straight and bright in just a couple of appointments.
Find the Best Cosmetic Dentistry in Newport Beach
The Center For Restorative & Cosmetic Dentistry offers a wide variety of restorative and aesthetic dental services. Dr. Desiree Yazdan’s skilled eye and attention to detail allow us to transform our patients’ smiles into accessories that they can confidently show off around friends, coworkers, or even their families.
If you’re considering a smile makeover with Newport Beach dental implants or veneers, we’ll guide you through the process from start to finish, so that you can feel confident about both your experience and outcome.
Contact The Center For Restorative & Cosmetic Dentistry today to reserve your one-on-one consultation.
About Dr. Yazdan
