Like your doctor, your dentist’s primary goal is to help you stay healthy. However, a part of your dentist’s job also revolves around artistic sense and aesthetics. After all, it’s important that your smile looks just as good as it feels when it comes to getting things like fillings, dental bonding, or dental crowns in Corbin. Fortunately, with the help of modern dentistry and high-quality materials, your dentist can select the color of your restorations so they blend in seamlessly with the rest of your pearly whites! Here’s how your dentist color-matches restorations like dental crowns.
Why Is Color So Important?
Picking a color for your dental crown may sound a lot easier than it actually is. Your teeth may look white at first glance, but they’re actually a very specific shade. If your dentist were to just choose any white-ish color for your restoration, it would stand out in your smile like a sore thumb! Even if the crown was only a little bit lighter in color than your natural teeth, the difference would be extremely noticeable when they’re placed side-by-side.
Just like a metal crown, if your porcelain crown stands out amidst your natural teeth, you’re going to naturally feel a bit self-conscious about smiling. Fortunately, your dentist employs numerous methods to ensure your restoration is virtually indistinguishable from the surrounding pearly whites.
How Your Dentist Makes the Best Choice
Choosing the correct color for your dental crown isn’t a process your dentist will rush through. There are a variety of things your dentist will look at when selecting the best color for your unique smile:
- Using a shade guide: Your dentist isn’t going to just look at your teeth and make an educated guess about their color. They’ll use a small card called a shade guide, which displays a wide range of enamel colors. Your dentist will hold each shade up to your teeth to find the one that is most like your natural enamel.
- Checking the lighting: If you’ve ever tried on clothes at a department store and then discovered they seemed to look completely different at home, then you already know that lighting is a key part of how something looks. To make sure your restoration looks good in any light, your dentist will compare your teeth and the style guide in different lights. This could include natural lighting, indoor lighting, and warm lighting.
- Controlling color contrast: Bright colors around your mouth can make it difficult to accurately perceive the color of your teeth and the shade guide. To control the impact of the surrounding colors, your dentist may ask you to remove any bright-colored makeup or lipstick you may be wearing. If you’re wearing bright-colored clothing, they may request that you wear the provided neutral-colored apron.
Your dentist wants you to feel great about the look of your smile as well as its health. With a carefully color-matched dental crown, your dentist can give you a restoration that looks as natural as can be.
About the Practice
Corbin Family Dental Care is proud to have been voted Top Dentist in the 2019, 2020, and 2021 News Journal Readers poll. Dr. Katherine Whitaker and her team go above and beyond to make each appointment pleasant and highly effective. They offer high-quality dentistry with the latest materials and techniques, including color-matched porcelain dental crowns. To learn more about this reliable restoration, we can be reached online or at (606) 523-1415.