Nothing spoils your smile (or makes you not want to smile) like discoloured teeth and unsightly gaps left by missing teeth. Straight, light and regular teeth add a brightness to your smile that lights up your face and warms the hearts of those you smile at.
Fortunately, there’s no need to simply accept the situation. Cosmetic dentistry can help you to greet the world with new-found confidence by rectifying most of the defects in your smile, from skew teeth to ones discoloured by genetics or as a result of years of drinking coffee or tea. Gaps left by missing teeth and chipped or broken teeth can also be repaired, filled or replaced. And new techniques have made it possible for all these procedures to be carried out to look so natural it’ll be hard for anyone to notice that your dazzling smile is a result of dentistry.
Beauty with bonuses
Cosmetic dentistry is closely tied to reconstructive dentistry in the techniques and some of the procedures used in both fields, however it is all about aesthetics, and every detail that could affect the beauty of your smile is taken into account. Reconstructive dentistry focuses on the functionality of your teeth, and is more about restorative action than aesthetics.
Cosmetic procedures can result in achieving some of the restorative benefits, however, because of the overlap in procedures used, like crowns, implants and so on. Although it is not the end goal of this type of dentistry, it can help restore functionality and improve the bite in the process of creating beauty.
Ways cosmetic dentistry can help you
1. Whitening your teeth: In-the-chair or do-at-home teeth whitening are available to help lighten the colour of your teeth and brighten your smile. These aim at removing the discoloration caused by long-term smoking or the consumption of coffee, tea or red wine which tend to stain the teeth. Prolonged use of some medications can also darken your teeth.
2. Crowns are the longest lasting option for restoring the original shape of broken or chipped teeth. Made of porcelain, they are also the most expensive option and take more time to do than bonding or veneers.
3. Veneers are thin but hard pieces of porcelain that are attached to the front of the teeth to hide defects which include chipped, crooked, unevenly-spaced or misshapen teeth. They are more inexpensive option than crowns, and will last longer than bonding.
4. Direct Bonding: Resin, colored to match your teeth, is bonded directly onto your teeth to fill in gaps or cover chipped or broken teeth.
5. Reshaping and contouring: Cosmetic dentists can bring about subtle changes to your smile by using drills or lasers to reshape crooked, oddly-shaped or even overlapping teeth.
6. Tooth-colored fillings can replace the ugly smile- affecting dark patches created by metallic fillings. These contain no metal and are instead made from a mixture of resin and porcelain.
7. Gum sculpting involves minor surgery to reshape and even out the gums.