- »

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Cosmetic Dentistry Trends

Its no secret that the vast majority of people are more than a little hesitant when it comes to seeing their dentist. For this reason, most of us tend to let our regular checkups slip, oftentimes for several years. If you fall into the category of those who fear dental work, there is a good chance you can find a dentist who offers sedation dentistry. This way you can work on your oral hygiene in the best possible way, and thus put your best smile out there for the world to see.

Aside from seeing a dentist for regular checkups and actual dental issues, you can also improve the look and feel of your smile by paying a visit to a cosmetic dentist as well as your regular dentist. The difference between the two is that one handles all of your dental needs, while the other handles the things you want to improve; but dont actually cause a problem. Unless you are one who hides their smile because you wish it looked better. That is one heck of an issue!

Cosmetic dentistry wasnt always widely practiced. Your cosmetic dentist has likely incorporated new technologies just in the past several years; thats how much the industry changes with time. The advances that your cosmetic dentist gets to take advantage of result in natural-looking teeth for you; even if what you have is a mouthful of veneers.

Depending on your specific clinical situation, your dentist will act conservatively to improve your smile. There is no need to fear sitting that dentist chair for a full mouth makeover these days. There are so many things you can take advantage of that will maintain the natural structure of your teeth and improve your look.

Probably the most widely used cosmetic dentistry service is that of teeth whitening. Through the things that we eat and drink; such as coffee, tea and red wine, we set up an environment that allows staining to take place. Over time, things like smoking and coffee drinking turn your teeth yellow. This can be a little or a lot. Either way, if you want a brighter smile with whiter teeth, all you have to do is take advantage of the technology of teeth whitening. In just a few minutes, you will be well on your way to the smile you want to show off.

Veneers are also widely used to correct and repair cracks that occur over time. While it can sometimes be a little tricky to match up the color of enamel, especially if you have had excessive tooth whitening, the advanced technology today makes a color match much more possible.

The bottom line is that there is no need to go through your life with the habit of hiding your smile. If you are one who covers your mouth when you smile or laugh, make the jump into cosmetic dentistry and free yourself to show off the beauty that shines through.


A Stress-Free and Winning Smile

When it comes to teeth, and everything connected with keeping the mouth clean and in good working order, the services of a dentist is perhaps the best thing that anyone can do for themselves. For those who want a sparkling smile, the cosmetic industry is there to fulfill all wishes in this department.

Many people will end up with bad teeth merely because they failed to follow several different rules. Flossing and cleaning daily may be the only thing that they do, but if it is not done properly, then they are sure to find problems developing over time. By having regular check ups, with a qualified person, they will be given advice on how to take care of the teeth and gums to preserve what they already have. For many years, people would only clean their teeth when they had to, but these days of soaring costs mean that people are far more likely to take time to make sure that they are looked after. This has resulted in many more people keeping their teeth well into old age and sometimes will not need false teeth at all.

Of course, the innovations in this industry mean that the professional has many more tools at his disposal than in the past. At one time they used to be paid by how many extractions that they could accumulate. Naturally, this meant that some unscrupulous professionals would yank out teeth regardless of the health state of them.

These days however, there is a constant battle going on to save even the most diseased of teeth. Sometimes when this is impossible, through disease or accidents, then there are other methods to ensuring a good smile. Surgically implanting posts into the jaw for teeth to be screwed onto is just one of the great new ideas that many have benefited from over the years. Veneers too have made it possible to replace what was a very bad smile with one that allows the patient to look great. These thin shards of porcelain sit on top of existing teeth to give a look of wonderfully even, white teeth that many famous people have taken advantage of.

Even misshapen or crooked teeth will be able to be corrected with veneers or braces and the professional will be able to fix the teeth in one way or another. However, probably the one biggest cause of teeth decay or irregularities is problems with the gums. With gum disease, the gums get spongy or are 'eaten' away which will eventually loosen the teeth, and this makes it extremely difficult for them to be saved. Sometimes the professional will have no option but to extract the teeth to get to the root of the problem, the gums.

However, when it comes to saving teeth, the watchword must be sort out the problem fast rather than wait. People have lost teeth merely because they are too scared or nervous about visiting a professional clinic to deal with any problems that are bothering them. It is much better to face any misgivings to do something about the problem before it is too late.



Tooth-Colored Fillings

Enhancements in modern dentistry materials and methods are allowing for new ways to create more satisfying, natural looking smiles. Dental research is continually developing more aesthetically enhanced materials, such as ceramic and plastic materials that imitate the appearance of natural teeth. If your smile is blemished by metal fillings, dentists now offer an increasingly common general dentistry solution through the use white tooth fillings.

More dental patients ask their dentists about white fillings because they want their teeth to look natural when they talk and smile. White fillings, or composite fillings, are made from a tooth coloured material that return the natural appearance of a decaying or previously metal filled tooth cavity. Because white fillings blend perfectly with your tooth enamel, your dentist will often recommend them if the infected tooth needs to be restored are near the front of your mouth and also for back teeth as black fillings are gradually faded out.

A white dental filling typically requires only one dental visit, during which the tooth or teeth are prepared and restored with white fillings. An advantage of white tooth fillings, as compared with other dental restorations, is that they need less of the healthy part of a tooth to be removed to hold the filling in position. This is due to the fillings composite materials being capable of bonding to the teeth adhesively.

The dentist carefully applies an adhesive followed by a number of thin layers of the natural tooth coloured material. Once the filling is in place, it is chemically hardened, or cured, for less than a minute with a special light. White fillings are ideal for patients who are sensitive to metals and are concerned about the mercury content of an amalgam filling, or who simply want to preserve their natural beautiful smile.


Dental Veneers

Cosmetic dentistry can be a life changing experience that is capable of giving you that confidence to smile again. Aesthetic porcelain veneers can be used that are bonded directly to your own teeth to transform your smile. Cosmetic veneers can remake an uneven and crooked smile into a glamorous one that is completely natural looking. Veneers can also be used to lengthen teeth that are too short or shorten teeth that are too long, re-proportion your smile and permanently whiten your teeth.

In preparation for your porcelain veneers, your dentist will need to speak with you about the goals you would like to achieve in your new smile. The dentist will need to gather dental records, including radiographs, photographs and study models to help design your new smile. Smile design is an essential component in an aesthetic dental treatment plan. Smile design is a concept that combines art and science to enhance, remodel, or create a beautiful smile.

The latest information and technology are used in designing a smile, where the face, lips, gum tissue and teeth are visualized in their entirely to create the best smile for each patient. This may involve taking digital photos and measurements to analyze tooth width and length, teeth positioning in regards to the lip and to each other, tooth color, gum height, space reduction and the symmetry of the smile.

Smile design involves visualizing the possibilities and then producing the desired results. It can be as simple as whitening the teeth, reshaping the gum tissue, or bonding small spaces or chipped teeth, or it can be creating the ultimate smile makeover using all porcelain veneers.

Veneers are very strong, thin, porcelain shells that are permanently bonded to your natural teeth. After shaping the teeth and taking accurate dental impressions, temporary veneers may be placed, allowing you to get a preview of your new smile. Your dentist will communicate closely with skilled dental lab technicians to ensure a natural appearing color and translucency in the porcelain veneers. The patient then returns to the dental office to have the polished porcelain veneers fitted and strongly bonded to your teeth. After clean up, polishing and final photographs, a look in the mirror reflects your new, beautiful smile.

Specialized veneers, such as Lumineers, provide gorgeous smiles with no shots and little or no drilling. Best used in patients that desire chiefly permanent whitening, closing small gaps or correcting slightly crooked teeth, Lumineers can be made as thin as a contact lens and offer the translucency seen in real teeth.

If you are missing teeth, this does not exclude you from a new smile. Dental implants and porcelain bridges can be used to replace missing teeth and be used in conjunction with porcelain veneers to complete your smile makeover.

Cosmetic veneers and tooth whitening materials continue to improve so that dental professional can achieve the cosmetic dentistry that will enhance your lovely smile until it's downright gorgeous!

Cosmetic Dentistry Procedures

Imagine a whiter, more brilliant smile! Porcelain veneers are conservative cosmetic dentistry that makes a dramatic difference in the appearance of your teeth. If you have chipped teeth, crooked teeth, gaps in teeth or dull or stained teeth, veneers may be the perfect solution for you. After prepping your teeth, your dentist skillfully bonds and shapes thin strips of porcelain to the front surfaces of your teeth, creating a straight, brilliant smile that enhances your appearance and your self esteem.

Tooth whitening is a revolutionary new procedure that gives you brighter, whiter teeth in a single office visit. Tooth whitening involves the application of a proprietary gel that, when exposed to a specialized light source, breaks down the stains on your teeth, leaving you with a beautiful smile. Most teeth whitening treatments take no more than an hour.

Lumineers are similar to veneers, but require less preparation of the tooth. These contact lens-thin "smile shapers" are bonded to the front surface of your teeth painlessly giving you a beautiful, bright and straight smile. There are no shots and no drilling involved!

Sometimes gum disease, injury, decay or simply wear results in the loss of a tooth. A large gap in your smile can create significant problems for your dental health if it isnt corrected. Over time your bite pressure may shift to other parts of your mouth to compensate for an inability to chew efficiently in the area of the missing tooth.

Neighboring teeth may begin to move about, moving into the gap and resulting in discomfort, pain and more problems down the road. Porcelain bridges "bridge the gap" in your smile. Your dentist creates a lifelike, functional bridge to correct your smile, restore your bite and alleviate your discomfort.

A porcelain bridge is created out of metal, alloys or porcelain and utilizes the teeth on both sides of the gap as its supportive structure. After some preparation of the two neighboring teeth, crowns are created for them. A prosthetic tooth, or pontic, is fused between the crowns to fill the gap. A bridge is a semi-permanent dental restoration, meaning it can only be removed by a dentist, so you can rest assured that your porcelain bridge will be a lasting restoration to your oral health.

You can erase years of wear and tear with porcelain crowns. Sometimes called "caps," porcelain crowns are customized for you, covering broken, cracked or discolored teeth. Crowns are a durable, strong, long lasting method of enhancing both the look and functionality of your smile. After some preparation of the tooth or teeth that will receive the crown(s), Your cosmetic dentist positions a custom milled, lifelike porcelain crown over your damaged tooth, restoring and rejuvenating your oral health.

When the decay has been taken out of the tooth, it is replaced with "filling" material. In the past, amalgam (silver) fillings were placed into the cleaned out portion of the tooth. With advancements in dentistry, you can now have tooth-colored fillings instead of silver fillings. You may even elect to remove your old silver fillings in favor of new, undetectable tooth-colored fillings.

Bonding is a tooth-colored material applied and adhered to the surface of the tooth without reducing the structure of the tooth in most cases. Then, your cosmetic dentist sculpts the material to create a natural-looking tooth. Bonding corrects chipped and broken teeth, discolored teeth and in some cases can correct gaps. It is less expensive than veneers but doesnt last as long and can stain. A benefit of bonding is that generally, the natural structure of the tooth can be maintained.

Benefits of Cosmetic Dentistry

We are increasingly surrounded by images of beauty, health and vitality and the quest for perfection is a well trodden path. As the world of cosmetics advances around us so too do our options for treatments in modern cosmetic dentistry.

In the field of the cosmetic dentist, the ability to reproduce, refine and enhance an individuals smile can create one of the single greatest improvements to a persons overall sense of beauty and self confidence.

Being equipped with a radiant smile has the ability to let you shine from the inside out and it is commonly perceived that those people who show-off an infectious smile receive a greater sense of positivity and encouragement from those around them. Whether at work or in a social context, it is important that we comfortable, happy and confident in our appearance if we are to feel and give our best.

If you are inhibited in your ability to smile freely by a set of misaligned teeth that leave you feeling self-conscious and unattractive, or you simply feel that you would like to enhance the colour and luminosity of your existing teeth, cosmetic dentists possess the ability to equip you with that winning smile.

Problems with damaged or oversized teeth and gums can also be a cause of embarrassment for many people and the options available for those people are readily available through your family cosmetic dentist who can offer you the treatments you need in the comfort and security of a professional and specialised environment.

Cosmetic dentistry understands the importance of a beautiful smile in providing you with confidence you want from your appearance. With advancements in dental treatments allowing procedures and treatments to take place with ease and discretion through methods such as invisible orthodontic techniques substituting older, less attractive options, the chance to achieve that dazzling smile is now at your fingertips.