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.