A great fitting Crown can only result from an accurate and detailed Impression. From your clinical description it sounds like you would benefit from some type of gingival ir Gum Recontouring procedure. Such a procedure by way of soft tissue laser or by conventional means would allow for an accurate impression and a well fitting and COMFORTABLE Crown! The odor that you describe comes from to a great degree from the Dental Cement washing out or becoming contaminated from persistant bacterial invasion simply due to the Crown fitting poorly around the tooth. A Healthy Gum or Gingival environment will facilitate agood impression as well as a successful and clean cementation of your new Crown. Good Luck!
It seems that your smile is important to you based on your line of work as well as your self esteem. Many times it is most acceptable to Restore Upper teeth and not the lowers based on ones Smile, Lip Line and Esthetic Zone (the amount of teeth seen during one's full smile). Especially in today's economic climate many people have important decisions to make regarding their Esthetic desires versus their financial situation. Please take the time to take before photos and have a detailed Esthetic consult so your treatment plan will be in accordance to your best interests. Although you had mentioned that six Veneers is your limit you should consider 8 so that your smile will look fully uniform and symmetrical. Often times when only placing 6 veneers your premolars are easily visible during a routine smile and if they are discolored you will ultimately be dissatisfied with your decision in not doing them. Bleaching your lower teeth can be a nice way to improve the color and allow a more "homogeneous" effect to take place relative to your new Upper Veneers. Additionally often times the lip line prevent the lower teeth from being seen during routine conversation. Most importantly, go to a Dentist that you have faith and confidence in and I'm sure you will gain a result that will make you happy!
Nancy, Crown Lengthening is without question a necessary and valid procedure and there are many indications for its usage. If a Tooth is considered small where there is not enough surface area to reliably hold on to a crown then Crown Lengthening can expose more healthy Tooth structure to solve that problem. I'm sure its safe to assume that you or anyone else would not want to worry about your permanent Crown coming off once or twice a week. There are also times when Dental Decay forms beneath the Gum Line coming close to the level of the bone. If a Crown is made under this circumstance than the margin of your new Crown will be too close to the bone causing your Gums to feel irritated and swollen all of the time. This can be avoided by Crown Lengthening since bone and tissue can be gently recontoured allowing space between the Crown Margin and the Bone. Under most situations Crown Lengthening is a minor Surgical procedure which can be done routinely and painlessly in about 20 minutes to half an hour. I hope that this explanation helps you.
Firstly the choice to place a Veneer as opposed to a Crown is based on the amount of healthy Tooth structure available and the goals for that Restoration. In other words Restoration types are not chosen based on their likeliness of causing the need for Root Canal treatment. If a patient presents with chipped,malposed, or discolored teeth than the Veneer may be the better choice based on having ample Tooth structure available and the demand for optimal aesthetics in the "Esthetic Zone" (the area where one can see when a person smiles). If a patient has cracked or fractured a significant portion of a tooth it would require a crown irregardless of the location of that tooth. With all things being equal and assuming that a patient is receiving good Dental care, Veneers are less likely to require a Root Canal as opposed to a crown on the basis that less tooth structure is removed during the preparation process. Having said that if a tooth does require a Root Canal after a crown preparation it would need one based on the tooth becoming inflamed or commonly known as an acute pulpitis. This temporary inflammatory process can be eliminated after a Root Canal with no further concern for an infection over 90% of the time.
The placement of two Porcelain Veneers will most definitely work if the pre-existing space between your two front teeth is not too large. If the space is too large and you try to close it with just two Veneers it will make your Smile look unnatural. If there is a question about proportion and space a diagnostic wax up is the method to allow us to evaluate how many Veneers would be best or needed for your specific case. This trial or "mock" wax up will give you a realistic preview as to what you can expect from your final Porcelain Veneers. The question in your case is basically how much preexisting space exists between your two Centrals. Good Luck!
