Damaged Teeth: What Treatments?

To meet the demands of their patients, dental surgeons can now rely on dental techniques that respect the teeth and supporting tissues, which allow the tooth to be preserved in its entirety as much as possible and give  very natural results . 

For misaligned teeth, more discreet braces 

If everyone has their own way of smiling, the definition of a  “beautiful smile”  has been standardized by dental surgeons according to very precise criteria, in particular with  the perfect alignment of the teeth … Today, misaligned teeth  can be corrected with effective  techniques and are less visible than in the past . 

No more iron “gates” which disfigure the most beautiful of faces: the “rings” are now stuck on the inside of the teeth to make themselves totally invisible! Made to measure, they are  thinner and thinner to limit discomfort and lesions of the tongue . The appliance can be limited to a few rings, applied to the teeth to be straightened. For smaller imperfections, invisible aligners correct slight overlaps in a few months. For an adult, it takes between 6 months and 2 years of treatment.

For yellow teeth, whitening

Considerable progress has been made in tooth whitening . For a long time, very concentrated products were applied to the teeth to obtain an often too white bleaching.  “This gave not very long-lasting results and was accompanied by side effects on the teeth and gums (in particular hypersensitivity) which led dentists to review their approach , recognizes Dr. Raux.

From now on, the treatment is done  using less concentrated products but applied for a longer time using aligners , either in the dentist’s office or brought to the patient’s home. The dentist begins by treating the upper teeth (count around 10 sessions), before tackling the lower teeth (count around 5 sessions).

For stained teeth, the erosion-infiltration technique

This technique has literally revolutionized the treatment of unsightly white spots that sometimes appear on the surface of teeth. Linked to an enamel malformation, they were until now treated by milling the tooth and placing a prosthesis (veneer). Too dilapidated, this approach has been replaced by a much more conservative technique  : the dental surgeon applies an acid solution which dissolves the too white enamel, then impregnates the tooth with a resin with optical properties similar to those of enamel. healthy.

For broken or decayed teeth, biomimetic materials 

Beyond the  damage caused to oral health and general health , broken or decayed teeth can  damage the aesthetics of the teeth . Fortunately, today, there are various techniques that allow both to heal the tooth and to correct its aesthetic appearance. 

Composite resins

The composite resins used to restore a broken or decayed tooth  now perfectly reproduce the colors of the different layers of the tooth  : ivory for the dentin and translucent for the enamel that covers it. The glues used to restore a broken tooth have also been greatly improved, and can withstand strong pressures. 

Inlays, Onlays, Overlays and dental veneers

For larger fractures that have resulted in the loss of a piece of tooth and crown, for example, resins are not sufficient; the dentist must make  a kind of ceramic prosthesis that he sticks to the broken tooth to compensate for the loss, which has the effect of strengthening the tooth. We speak of Inlay, Onlay or Overlay for the posterior teeth, and veneers for the anterior teeth.  

The veneers  can also be used to mask stubborn stains or close the black triangles between the teeth, without weakening them. ” Compared to crowns, they divide tissue mutilation by 3 to 4, ” says Dr Raux.

Crowns

The  crowns  can be indispensable. But, here again, the new ceramics, more resistant than before and translucent, and the invisible glues used to achieve the joint between the tooth and the crown give very aesthetic results, ” which perfectly mimic nature “, assures the surgeon. dentist.