Happy Wednesday!
My goodness, it does not feel like winter yet here in the city! A whopping 57 degrees this week as the high? Yay! But let’s not jinx it, we’ll get some winter weather soon enough.
Let’s talk some teeth, shall we? To be more specific, chipped teeth! It’s our biggest fear! Do you have small chips on your front teeth? Are you wondering how to fix them or what can be done to prevent them from chipping any further? We have the answers for you!!
There are several steps to take in determining what is the best course of action for you. For the patient below, she had small chips on her front teeth from her lower teeth being over-crowded. Because of the way that her lower and upper teeth come together when she bites and chews, small chips occur from the crowded lower teeth coming up against those top teeth. For this patient, the bonding would not hold without moving the lower teeth out of the way and into proper alignment.
We suggested that she did ZOOM! whitening first to achieve the color she wanted us to match. After she loved the color, we completed the anterior bonding to fix the chips in her teeth and then took impressions for Invisalign. We were able to do the bonding first because the Invisalign trays protect the upper teeth from hitting the lowers. If the patient did not want to do Invisalign, we would suggest that she wear an appliance at night to help prevent the chipping from happening again. (This is not recommended and has a lower success rate due to the lower teeth still in the same position and hitting the upper bonding.)
Our recommendation was to do two veneers on the front teeth. The stronger material would not chip off like bonding material might and the results are long term. This patient chose to do bonding as well as Invisalign, so we recommended that she wear a full coverage night guard at the end of her treatment to act as a retainer for the upper and lower teeth as well as to prevent any clenching that might occur.
She was THRILLED with the results!
If you have any questions about chips on your teeth, veneers, or anything teeth-related, do not hesitate to reach out! Go ahead give us a call at 773-883-1818 to schedule a consultation!
Have a wonderful rest of your week!
