Having even one bad tooth in your mouth can lead to a variety of functional and aesthetic concerns. With the help of a dentist, you can look at some of the most commonly applied solutions, including fillings, dental crowns, veneers and dental implants. Each option is intended to address a specific situation, and a professional can help you determine which one is right for your circumstances.

Fillings

Used to address problems with infectious material building up inside a tooth, a filling is typically the cheapest available solution to a bad tooth. It's ideal for one particular purpose, treating cavities, and in some cases, a more aggressive procedure, usually a root canal, will be required to keep the tooth. In some cases, fillings can be used to deal with chips that non-infected teeth have suffered.

Dental Crowns

The goal in putting in a crown is to remove the surface of a tooth and replace it with an artificial material, usually a zircon or ceramic product. The crown covers healthy tissue, restoring protective coating that has been lost. Dental crowns are recommended for many patients because they look good and provide a lot of support when biting down on food.

Dental crowns are employed to correct a number of conditions, including cracks and chips. A practitioner may also elect to use dental crowns to fix teeth that have become discolored to the point they can no longer be satisfactorily cleaned, a common choice for heavy tea and coffee drinkers. It's also a popular option for individuals who have nicotine stains from smoking.

Veneers

The concept behind veneers is similar to the one used for dental crowns, except only less of the tooth's exterior is removed, usually about 30 to 40 percent. The veneer faces outward, correcting visual flaws. If there is cracking or chipping limited to one side, a veneer may be used, but most doctors prefer to do full dental crowns in these cases just to provide extra physical support.

Dental Implants

If a tooth or a set of teeth ought to be removed entirely, one solution is to install dental implants. This procedure calls for a medical-grade metal post to be inserted through the gums and into the bones above the jaw. An appliance made of materials similar to the ones used for crowns is then attached to the post. Dental implants are considered almost as functional as natural teeth.