The American Dental Association is an excellent resource for details on these restorations. Visit www.ada.org for more information. Dr. Lewcock will provide an in depth explanation of these excellent restorations for your teeth at your appointment but a brief description is listed below: Crowns: Crowns or "caps" are restorations designed to fit snugly and function as normal teeth.

inlay or an onlay is a conservative alternative to a full crown, and may be recommended after decay is removed. Tooth-colored material is bonded to the tooth for increased support and strength as well as to restore normal appearance.

In general, a porcelain veneer or laminate covers the front of the tooth only. A dental crown will cover the entire tooth, all the way around.

The layman’s term for crown is “cap”. A cap may be needed if a tooth is broken or has become heavily decayed. A crown completely covers the tooth after the tooth is drilled circumferentially, usually down to the gum line. An onlay is used when there is still a lot of good tooth structure remaining so the tooth doesn’t have to be reduced as much. It is kind of like putting a “new top” on the tooth.

A porcelain inlay or onlay is a piece of porcelain that fits into or onto the tooth. It holds the tooth together and makes the tooth stronger while keeping the tooth looking natural.

Both crowns and bridges are referred to as restorative dentistry. They are used to return your teeth to their desired look and stability. Crowns and bridges both add stability to the surrounding teeth and give your smile a more beautiful look.

onlay is a tooth-shaped restoration made of composite resin or porcelain that completely or partially covers the natural tooth. It is for those restorations that need to be stronger than a simple filling yet don’t require a full crown. Often, Dr. Rieder or Dr. Carson may suggest onlays as an alternative treatment to crowns if it means saving more healthy natural tooth structure.

These are restorations to repair a severely broken tooth by covering all or most of the tooth after removing old fillings, fractured tooth structure, and all decay. The restoration material is made of gold, porcelain, composites, or even stainless steel. Dentists refer to all of these restorations as "crowns". However, patients often refer to the tooth-colored ones as "caps" and the gold or stainless steel ones as "crowns". Newer all-ceramic "bonded" crowns, and veneers are becoming very popular

far as courses are concerned, there is no difference between the CE and College Credit program. These courses are integrated, so you are taking the same courses and learning the same information at the same time as college credit students.

Veneers are an excellent alternative to crowns in many situations. They provide a much more conservative approach to changing a tooth's color, size or shape. Veneers can mask undesirable defects, such as teeth stained by tetracycline and damage due to an injury or as a result of a root-canal procedure. They are ideal for masking discolored fillings in front teeth. Patients with gaps between their front teeth or teeth that are chipped or worn may consider veneers.

It is a relatively small porcelain filling, contained inside the tooth's cusps (small projections on the top surface). They are made from porcelain which matches the color of your natural tooth, so that nobody but a dentist can tell you have a filling.

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Additional excerpted writings from Patricia S. Lemer, M.Ed., NCC, Executive Director, Developmental Delay Registry Eyesight and vision are not synonymous. Eyesight is the sharpness of the image seen by the eye. Vision is the ability to focus on and comprehend that which is seen. Research has shown that while most children with special needs do not have eyesight problems, many have visual dysfunction.

Flexible veneer goes through many processes which include cutting and trimming waste, joining and matching flitches, flexing, backing with a stabilizing material and sanding. The finished product is a beautiful sheet veneer which is easy to install and 100% ready to use. Because it is not trimmed, raw veneer yields less usable veneer and requires many steps to process it. These steps are time consuming and requires skill and patience.

Bonding is tooth colored plastic material that is placed over missing parts of teeth or when trying to close gaps on front teeth. A porcelain veneer is a strong porcelain lab fabricated restoration. Bonding is also an ideal filling material for back teeth for small cavities or replacing small metal fillings. One of the problems with bonding is that it can change color and requires more frequent replacement. Because bonding is a plastic material it is easier to break and chip.

Our Natural Thin Veneer is natural stone. Man-made stone is produced by pouring a combination of cement, aggregate and color pigments into molds. This mixture is then allowed to cure. Because there are only a limited number of molds and colors for a man-made product, a repeating pattern can result on larger projects. In contrast, every piece of Natural Thin Veneer is unique in color and shape because it is quarried from the earth.