Popular Cosmetic Dentistry Procedures

There’s something really special about our smiles. When bright and cheerful they lift our own mood by giving them. And they brighten the day for those who bask in its warm glow. But, unfortunately, when something mars that natural shine, it can carry the wrong message, giving the receivers a completely different idea of who you are. That’s why more and more people are turning to cosmetic dentistry in an attempt to clean up their smiles, and rebuild their self and outside images in the process.

Smile Makeover Packages

Why go through a series of different treatments over a long period of time, when you can get your beautiful smile back with one comprehensive package? Smile makeovers could be the all-in-one answer to your problems. And the best thing of all is that they are custom designed to fit your individual needs.

Everything about you is taken into account. Of course, your dentist will primarily take note of the shape, size, and colour of your teeth. He or she will also look at their alignment, and how much your teeth (and gums) show when you smile. But it’s not only your teeth, mouth and lips that will play a part in the development of your own specialized make-over program. The general appearance of your face, your skin tone and your hair colour, also play a big part.

Smile Makeover Procedures

It’s up to you to decide whether you want to pick just one or two of the available procedures that dentistry offers to help you brighten your smile, or go the whole way and settle for the makeover package. There are a wide array of procedures to choose from, and it would be advisable to enlist your dentist’s help in making the decision on which are necessary.

Getting back the shine

One of the most popular cosmetic dentistry procedures involves getting rid of the stains and discoloration that definitely dim our smiles. Most of us, as we age, see our smile dull as our teeth lose their white brilliance. But it’s not always just about age. This discolouration can be caused by genetics, trauma, some medications, or even the illnesses they are taken to help heal. It’s can also result when you smoke, or drink a lot of coffee, tea or red wine.

You can try whitening your own teeth at home, using one of the many commercial gums, toothpastes, whitening kits or strips available in the stores. However, these involve a lot of your time and effort, and it will be a while before you see results. If your dentist does it for you, it’s possible you could walk out with your teeth up to 7 shades lighter, after spending just one hour in the chair.

Covering up the evidence

Sometimes tooth whitening just can’t cut it, and your teeth remain just off the desired brightness. There are also times when small gaps, slight skewness, cracks, or chips still spoil your smile, however white and bright it is. This is when your dentist will look into cover-up options.

Two of the main ones are bonding and veneers.  Bonding involves attaching a composite resin to your teeth which the dentist shapes and molds to cover or reshape the offending tooth or teeth. It will whiten your teeth, cover the blemishes and also take on the task of filling small gaps.

Veneers do much the same, but the results are more durable and less likely to stain. Thin composite resin or porcelain shells are manufactured at a lab following a tooth impression taken by the dentist. They are then attached to the front of your tooth or teeth. As they are made to order at a laboratory, veneers usually involve more than one visit.

Doing away with gaps

A gap-toothed smile can be quite okay, it can even be cute. But that’s if you are a kid. For the rest, anything more than a small divide (and that’s between your two front teeth) can be a source of embarrassment. Filling in the gaps may well make all the difference, stopping them being the first, and sometimes only, thing people notice when you smile.

If the gaps are too big for veneers or bonding to do the trick, or the damage is reasonably severe, your dentist may recommend Crowns (or caps). Provided there’s enough of the original tooth left to support it, these dental royals can be cemented onto the damaged tooth. They are a long-lasting solution to repairing or replacing larger parts of the tooth’s natural crown.

If a single crown can’t handle the gap on its own, a bridge that supports a false tooth can be attached to two crowns attached to reasonably healthy teeth on either side of the gap. But the top contender when you have a missing tooth, is the implant. This natural-looking artificial tooth is firmly embedded in the root area of the lost tooth.

With all these techniques at hand, there’s an excellent chance that your dentist can help you relaunch your smile looking better, cleaner and fresher than ever before. Don’t you owe it to yourself to let your true beauty shine on those around you?