Cosmetic Dentistry

Your smile is one of the most noticeable features of your facial appearance, and when it’s affected by cosmetic defects like stained or chipped teeth, it can bring down your self-esteem and your confidence. Cosmetic dentistry can help.

Our office provides many cosmetic dentistry interventions that conceal or correct the flaws that are detracting from your smile to help your smile look as beautiful as possible. We focus on each patient’s unique needs to achieve a result that has the most lifelike appearance possible.

Some patients will get the smile of their dreams from a single treatment, while others may need multiple services. Visit our office for an evaluation to learn more about what we recommend in your case.

The Components of A Beautiful Smile

You probably know a beautiful smile when you see it, but you may not be able to identify all of the features that make that smile particularly appealing. In the ideal smile, the teeth are:

• White
• Free from stains
• Properly aligned
• In good condition
• Proportionate to each other
• Framed by the right amount of gum tissue

Any variation from that ideal will make your smile less attractive. As such, cosmetic dentistry strives to help restore your teeth to those preferred conditions. We also weigh considerations specific to your unique smile so that the results are as natural-looking as possible.

Cosmetic Dentistry: Blending Art and Science

Because cosmetic dentistry is primarily concerned with the smile’s aesthetics, it requires that the dentist take an artistic perspective while working with dental science. We dedicate significant attention to the treatment planning process to make sure that your improved smile is stunning.

This may involve accommodating for factors such as:

• The shade of your surrounding teeth to ensure that the color of restorations or enhancements fit in seamlessly with the rest of your smile
• The shape and size of the other teeth so that the restoration or enhancement isn’t too large or too small or unnaturally shaped
• The overall contour of your smile

All of those considerations influence the treatment plan, which is also determined by the desired aesthetic outcomes for the treated teeth.

Cosmetic Dentistry Treatments to Help You Attain Your Ideal Smile

Many patients find that their teeth become discolored due to lifestyle habits such as drinking coffee or wine or as a result of aging, which tends to expose the yellowish dentin underneath the enamel surface. Teeth whitening can help to eliminate those stains or reverse the years.

With teeth whitening treatments, bleaching gels are applied to the teeth to release stains or other discoloration. While several over-the-counter whitening products are available, many patients prefer the consistent, more noticeable results they get with professional-grade treatments.

Porcelain Veneers are also commonly used in cosmetic dentistry. Veneers are tremendously versatile and can be used to conceal a variety of aesthetic flaws in the smile, including:

• Chips
• Cracks
• Stains that do not respond to teeth whitening
• Gaps
• Undersized teeth

In some cases where teeth are only slightly misaligned, veneers can even be used to create the illusion that the teeth are straight, eliminating the need for years of orthodontic treatment.

The Smile Makeover: Putting It All Together

Patients who have numerous cosmetic issues with their smile may need to undergo multiple treatments to get the smile that they desire. This can extend the patient’s overall treatment timeline, but the investment of additional time is worth the result of a truly beautiful smile.

In such cases, the timing or sequencing of certain treatments may come into play. For example, veneers cannot be whitened after they are bonded to the teeth, so any planned teeth whitening must happen before veneers are placed so that the teeth and veneers match.

As with all cosmetic dentistry treatments, the smile makeover begins with a comprehensive assessment of your case to determine what concerns need to be addressed and which interventions can help. After that evaluation, your dentist can give you an idea of what to expect in terms of timeframe and results.