Porcelain Veneers Vs Dental Crowns?

The first step to making your decision is understanding what both of these restorations are and how they work.





Dental crowns are also a type of porcelain shell, but they are designed to fit over most of your tooth, which allows them to fix a number of functionality issues as well as cosmetic ones. To place a crown, your dentist will need to shape your tooth so that the crown can fit over it and sit naturally among your other teeth.



Porcelain veneers are primarily a good option for cosmetic restorations that don’t affect the functionality of your teeth. This includes issues like stain-resistant discolorations, minor chips and cracks, damage to the enamel, minor misalignment's, and short, eroded, or widely spaced teeth.



Dental crowns can fix all of these problems, but are also an effective option when the functionality of your tooth has been compromised. For instance, a tooth that has broken or cracked due to trauma or decay can be repaired by a crown but not by a veneer. Crowns are also useful for building up teeth that are causing problems with your bite and for supporting and protecting a tooth that has had root canal therapy.



Both porcelain veneers and dental crowns are a lifelong commitment, so it’s important to consider your options carefully. Once your tooth has been prepped for one of these restorations, you will need to keep the restoration in place to protect your tooth.



The lifespan of your restorations will depend greatly on your dedication to dental hygiene and regular visits at your dental office. Both veneers and crowns are made of stain-resistant porcelain or ceramics, but without proper care, these restorations can still become discolored, and restorations cannot be bleached like natural teeth can. You should also use caution when eating to avoid biting down on hard substances like cherry pits. Habits like chewing nails or pencils could also damage your restoration.  Restorations can further be protected with the use of night-guards.

It all revolves around how much tooth structure is removed and how much tooth the veneer covers.  You can have a full coverage crown on a small peg lateral incisor with no tooth reduction.  You can place veneers that cover the fronts of teeth with no tooth removal as well.

This is a very good and frequently asked question to most cosmetic dentists. The main difference between porcelain crowns and porcelain veneers is the amount of tooth structure that is covered with porcelain.  Veneers are thin pieces of porcleian that cover the outside (lip side) portion of the tooth.  Crowns are made of the exact same porcelain, but cover the tooth 360 degrees.  There are several factors that determine whether a tooth receives a crown or veneer.  Aesthetics and occlusion (the bite) are both considered when making the decision as to the correct restoration for each individual tooth.  Hope this helps.