What to Expect From a Smile Makeover

A smile makeover can transform your appearance and boost your self-confidence while helping to ensure optimum health and function of your teeth.

Your smile is an important part of your personality, which is why so many people opt for cosmetic dental treatment. And in crafting a beautiful smile, cosmetic dentistry can also make sure your teeth are doing their job effectively.

With the help of cutting-edge technology and materials, a smile makeover can eliminate the embarrassment of damaged teeth.

If stained, decayed, crooked or chipped teeth – or even missing teeth – are spoiling your appearance, there’s a cosmetic dentistry option available to give you the smile you’ve always dreamt of.

Dentistry has progressed from simply repairing damaged teeth to embrace a wide range of cosmetic procedures including:

• Teeth whitening.
• Dental veneers.
• Fountain of Youth Dentures.
• Mini dental implants.
• Clear plastic aligners to straighten teeth.
• Tooth-colored fillings.
• Crowns.
• Bridges.

Teeth Whitening

With a teeth-whitening smile makeover by a dentist, you can expect your teeth to become many shades brighter.

Professional whitening avoids repeat applications of less effective over-the-counter whitening products, and dentists use whitening materials with more powerful bleaching agents to produce a better outcome.

Teeth whitening by a dental professional can lighten the staining of both the outer surface of enamel and the underlying dentin. With the removal of these stains, your teeth also become stronger and healthier.

A single whitening treatment typically takes less than an hour to produce the same results as weeks of messy applications of over-the-counter teeth whitening products.

Dental Veneers

Porcelain dental veneers are often the cosmetic dentistry treatment of choice for celebrities seeking a Hollywood smile.

These customized tooth-colored shells are bonded onto the front of teeth to conceal stains or cracks or to close gaps between teeth. Being translucent, veneers look natural because they interact with light like dental enamel.

With proper care, veneers can last many years, and new materials have made them thinner, so the surface of the tooth doesn’t have to be trimmed. Veneers can also correct teeth overcrowding, increase the dimension of teeth, and make them squarer or longer.

Veneers are individually made for each patient to match the shape and color of the surrounding teeth.

Fountain of Youth Dentures

Unlike traditional dentures, which can give your face an aging appearance, Fountain of Youth (FOY) Dentures can make you look younger.

An innovation in denture technology, FOY Dentures are more functional and comfortable than standard dentures. They fit better by ensuring even pressure on the gums, which avoids the problem of jaw bone deterioration associated with conventional dentures.

Fountain of Youth Dentures help to maintain the natural proportions of your face to restore your smile. They’re also designed to look like your natural teeth – but when you were younger – and feature natural-looking material to replicate the gums in customized shades.

Mini Dental Implants

Mini dental implants (MDIs) offer the same benefits as regular implants to replace individual missing teeth or stabilize a denture but can be fitted with a less invasive procedure.

MDI artificial teeth can be placed within hours, with a faster healing time, and the procedure eliminates the need for a bone graft – necessary with regular implants if you’ve lost a lot of jaw bone through gum disease or other factors.

Unlike regular implants, the mini implant procedure can generally be completed in a single appointment, and most patients resume normal activities the same day. Because the MDI procedure is short and simple, it provides a particularly good option for elderly or infirm patients.

Clear Plastic Aligners

If you’re self-conscious about crooked teeth, Invisalign clear plastic aligners offer a revolutionary teeth-straightening solution with multiple advantages over traditional fixed braces.

The removability of Invisalign appliances makes it easier to get on with your life. You can take them out for meals and snacks, which avoids the dietary restrictions that come with standard braces.

And while fixed braces make oral hygiene difficult, you can remove your Invisalign aligners to continue to brush and floss as normal.

A further benefit of the Invisalign system is that – as the name suggests – the aligners are practically invisible, which means you won’t feel self-conscious during your orthodontic treatment.

Tooth-Colored Fillings

Tooth-colored composite fillings made from durable plastic resins offer more cosmetic benefits than silver amalgam fillings – they blend perfectly with your natural teeth.

Unlike amalgam fillings, tooth-colored fillings are bonded to teeth, which can provide extra strength and lessen the risk of future cracks or fractures. Composite materials for front teeth usually have a bright shine while those for the back teeth are designed more for strength.

Porcelain Crowns

Porcelain crowns – tooth-shaped caps – are placed over damaged teeth to improve appearance and strength. They’re customized to complement your surrounding natural teeth in shape, size, and color – which makes them perfect for your more visible front teeth. Porcelain crowns can also be used to add the finishing touch to a dental implant to fill an unsightly gap caused by a missing tooth.

Porcelain Bridges

Porcelain dental bridges – aka fixed partial dentures – can replace one or more missing teeth. They consist of synthetic teeth fused to a frame and help to preserve the shape of the face and ease stress on the bite function. A dental bridge is anchored by implants or your natural teeth adjacent to the gap, while the middle section replaces the lost tooth.

The Art and Science of Improving Your Appearance and Dental Health

A combination of art and medical science, modern cosmetic dentistry techniques can give you the ideal smile makeover.

Thanks to advances in technology, cosmetic dentistry has progressed rapidly in recent years, with state-of-the-art procedures that are appealing to an ever-increasing number of people who want to feel better about how they look.

A smile makeover will also play a key role in the functionality of your teeth as an aid to clear speech and proper digestion and allow you to enjoy the food you like.

This is where cosmetic dentistry and restorative dentistry can overlap.

For instance, dental veneers are regarded as cosmetic because they disguise cracked or stained teeth but they can also be considered a restorative treatment in protecting the surface of a tooth.

And while dentures improve appearance, they also fix issues such as slurred speech and difficulty eating.

Overall, a smile makeover can turn your life around by improving both the health and appearance of your teeth and enhancing your self-esteem.