Natural teeth are incredible structures that, with proper care and intervention, can last a lifetime.
However, when chips, cracks, and decay occur due to wear and tear or injury, restorative treatments allow dental professionals to save teeth that likely would have been lost a century ago. Even better, many restorative offerings strengthen natural teeth beyond their original capabilities.
The mindset of saving natural teeth whenever possible has become standard operating procedure for modern-day dental professionals.
There are aspects of natural teeth that no artificial replacement can ever perfectly replicate—jaw function with replacements is not the same as jaw function with roots anchoring teeth; dental replacements come out, while natural teeth stay; and the chewing force exerted from natural teeth is more beneficial than any replacement could handle.
Becoming familiar with various restorative options allows patients to advocate for their dental health. Once a patient engages with the proper treatment, a damaged tooth can become one that serves its purpose for decades—often at a fraction of the cost of replacement.
Dental Crowns: Complete Tooth Coverage
One of the best options to save a tooth that is somewhat beyond repair is a dental crown. Crowns serve as full coverage so that patients can enjoy their tooth’s complete function and aesthetic again—if not better.
Dental crowns are made of porcelain and are either done in the office or sent to a lab for creation. It all depends on how quickly patients would like to receive their crowns. They cover the entire visible area of a tooth, meaning strength is replaced as well. In fact, depending on the material from which the crown is made, they often exceed what the natural structure once was.
There are different materials from which crowns can be made. Porcelain crowns are stronger than anything else available through other means and thus are recommended for back molars; porcelain crowns are better in appearance than anything else and thus recommended for front incisors; porcelain-fused-to-metal options are stronger yet on the back side but look appealing enough for all teeth.
Crowns take two appointments and weeks to receive. Temporary crowns are offered between appointments to protect the tooth shape until the second appointment’s cementation occurs.
When exploring crown options, it’s helpful to understand the types of dental crowns and cost considerations involved. Porcelain crowns require skilled craftsmanship and precision, which reflects in their investment value and superior aesthetic results.
While some cases may need additional preparatory treatments to ensure optimal comfort and success, experienced dental professionals can effectively manage these situations to achieve excellent outcomes. The extra care taken during preparation ensures the crown will fit perfectly and provide long-lasting results.
Ultimately, most agree that placing a crown is significantly cheaper than tooth removal and replacement.
Dental Fillings: Cavity’s Worst Enemy
Tooth-colored composite fillings help avoid invasive cavity treatment by preventing more of the tooth from having to be reshaped than necessary. Fillings allow more natural tooth structure to exist with aesthetically appealing results than metal fillings.
Fillings are placed by removing only the decayed portion of the original structure. Fillings bond to tooth enamel and dentin with chemical properties that allow excellent retention without damaging more of the healthy areas.
Fillings can withstand normal chewing forces. In fact, composite fillings placed today should last years and years with proper care. They even expand and contract with temperature changes—not perfectly like teeth do—but more than other materials that exacerbate the intersection between fillings and enamel.
Composite fillings can fill large holes but it’s suggested that crowns cover even larger cavities. However, composite fillings allow structural repairs to chips, fractures, and other damages that might have left previously well-repaired teeth needing coverage or removal.
Inlays/Onlays: A Hybrid Option
These less common restorations exist when something’s too big for a filling but not enough work is needed to justify a crown. Inlays and onlays restore tooth surfaces and parts while creating a seal more appropriately fitted by professionals than something done chairside.
Inlays restore chewing surfaces situated within the cusps of back teeth where food naturally travels best; onlays caps over—at times—multiple cusps helping increase strength from wear-and-tear forces.
Both of these options allow maximum healing without maximum reduction of tooth structure. Fillings do not hold up as long as inlays/onlays since inlays/onlays are made in labs with great precision which also gives good margins formed against decay.
Inlays/onlays work well for cavities that have significant age but haven’t reached a point of damage necessitating a crown yet. They also come in either aesthetic materials or stronger materials as per need.
Root Canal Treatment: Keep It Alive!
This is often misunderstood as something doctors suggest when teeth should just come out. Pulp—this soft tissue interior—is essential for nerves but when infected or dying, it needs to be removed while the rest of the tooth stays where it is. Root canals save what can be kept for as long as possible while protecting structures over and in.
Root canal treatment does not hurt any worse than getting a filling because practitioners need access to above surface—whereever there’s numbing—to make this situation possible to undertake.
The canals—interior portions—are drained and cleaned with significant effort so much so that you don’t need tooth remnants after this process. This means that crowns will be necessary in addition to state-of-the-art cleaning—combining these two services is better than extraction ever could offer when done properly.
If 90% of root canals succeed (>90%) in saving people’s teeth, then it’s worth it—but those who get teeth pulled still deal with significant costs replacing them afterward, including health insurance covering small portions.
Preventative Treatments That Help
Sometimes it’s easier to repair before things get worse. Fluoride treatment helps reverse cavities before they form; they get inside teeth during biannual treatments when dentists notice early signs of decay.
Sealants also protect early holes with their plastic coating over backed teeth surfaces; they prevent little food particles from getting stuck in grooves we can’t reach with floss and bristles.
Professional cleanings get rid of plaque/tartar buildup that leads sensitive gums to recede or begin decaying teeth along the gum line unnoticed when poor patches of skin transition into good ones.
Night guards avoid grinding damage—especially if worn nightly (or every night).
Long-Term Effects
Aesthetically pleasing at first, preserving natural structures ultimately preserves their function in ways artificial replacements never could—including holding bone structure together since roots determine if bone remains strong (or dissolves) over time.
Additionally, it makes far more economic sense long-term to preserve natural structures under any means necessary. If teeth can exist for decades without needing future efforts (minus some flossing) versus consistent maintenance/replacement/treatment of false ones; it becomes challenging to advocate against saving what’s already there.
The confidence that comes from maintaining natural teeth extends beyond just appearance. Knowing that teeth will function normally for eating, speaking, and social interactions provides peace of mind that artificial replacements may not offer to the same degree.
Modern restorative dentistry makes it possible to save natural teeth in situations that would have required extraction in the past. These treatments offer excellent long-term value while preserving the irreplaceable benefits of natural tooth structure.
