Everyone deserves to smile. But did you know the act of smiling is actually tied to relieving stress, improving your mood, and even boosting your immune system? So if you’re embarrassed by your smile, you’re missing out on all of these benefits. When you’re considering how to restore your smile, comparing crowns vs. veneers can help you choose the right option.
Veneers vs. Crowns: The Key Difference
There’s one major difference between veneers and crowns: function. Veneers are primarily meant to change the appearance of your smile. Crowns, on the other hand, do more than that. They restore strength, structure, and protection to a damaged tooth while also improving its appearance. So while veneers are focused on cosmetics, crowns offer both cosmetic and functional benefits.
Because of their different purposes, insurance coverage for veneers differs from that for crowns. Veneers are considered cosmetic dentistry and are not covered by insurance, so you’ll need to factor that into the total cost. Crowns, in contrast, are restorative, so your insurance may cover all or part of the treatment. When insurance doesn’t apply or only covers a portion, we offer flexible financing options to help make your ideal smile more affordable.
Another difference is that some kinds of veneers, like Lumineers®, are reversible, while crowns and porcelain veneers require us to irreversibly shave off some enamel from the tooth to perfectly fit the crown or veneer.
Veneers
One popular option to rejuvenate your smile is a veneer. Veneers are thin shells placed on the front surface of a tooth to improve the appearance of your smile. They’re an effective way to hide imperfections and create more uniformity.
Veneers can help with a wide range of dental issues, including:
- Stubborn stains that don’t respond to whitening
- chips, cracks, and fractures
- crooked or misshapen teeth
At the Center for Cosmetic Dentistry, we offer two kinds of veneers: porcelain veneers and Lumineers®. To place porcelain veneers, we remove a small amount of enamel to ensure a proper fit, which makes the treatment permanent. You can normally get veneers in two appointments, but our office is able to do it in just one. Thanks to our CEREC machine, which stands for Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics, we can craft and place your custom veneers in a single visit.
If you’re looking for something less invasive, Lumineers® may be the perfect fit. These ultra-thin veneers are only as thick as a contact lens. With Lumineers, you can enjoy the cosmetic benefits of veneers without removing any enamel, allowing you to completely reverse the procedure. Still, in some instances, we may shave off some tooth to place Lumineers, which would not be reversible.
While both porcelain veneers and Lumineers® can last up to 20 years, Lumineers® may be more prone to wear due to their thinner design.
Same-Day Crowns
Another way you might restore your smile is with dental crowns, which restore a tooth’s shape and appearance. Your dentist might recommend them to offer protection after a root canal treatment, to protect weak teeth, or to restore broken teeth.
With mini dental implant procedures, you can even replace an entire missing tooth with a crown. We’re a Mini Dental Implant Center of America in Cleveland, TN, which means we can place a small-diameter implant that supports a crown in areas where traditional implants might not be suitable.
Mini dental implants are often an ideal option for patients with lower bone density or those seeking a less invasive treatment.
Moreover, we can complete the restoration in one visit. Usually, you receive a temporary crown and wait 2-4 weeks for the dental lab to create the permanent crown. But at the Center for Cosmetic Dentistry, we can provide same-day crowns using our in-house CEREC machine. Instead of waiting up to a month, we can have your permanent crown ready in an hour.
See How Crowns vs. Veneers Compare
Veneers and crowns are two popular and convenient ways to restore your smile. At the Center for Cosmetic Dentistry, we provide top-quality dental restorations, including crowns and veneers, to help you achieve your smile goals. Using our state-of-the-art CEREC machine, you can receive your restoration in a single visit.
And as a Mini Dental Implant Center of America in Cleveland, TN, we can restore your missing tooth with a mini implant and crown. Contact our team to schedule a free consultation.
