A beautiful smile is a little different for everyone! Some people just want to have healthy natural teeth that don’t have visible stains or stand out in the crowd too much, whereas others want a bright white, perfectly straight Hollywood smile. Getting to the goal of your perfect smile is a journey you and your dentist will work towards together.
A great dentist will listen carefully to help identify what your goals are and discuss with you the optimal way to achieve these goals, as well as explaining the potential limitations of certain treatments.
Smile Make Over Options
Getting the best aesthetic outcome is a balance between gums (pink tissue) and teeth (white tissue). Gums are almost always the foundation for any dental work, especially cosmetic dental treatment. If the gums are not healthy and are unable to support a tooth, any other dental work that is done will be doomed to failure. Sometimes gums need augmenting or surgery to get a more symmetrical shape when you smile. This is often completed by a gum specialist called a periodontist. Other times, all the gums require is a good routine dental cleaning.
Once the gums are in a strong, healthy state, we can then focus on the actual teeth.
Ideally the best cosmetic treatment maintains as much natural tooth as possible to achieve a beautiful result without removing any natural tooth structure.
We can often accomplish remarkable results with, one or a combination of bleaching, bonding and orthodontics.
Teeth Cleaning And Bleaching
After a good cleaning, most staining from things like coffee, wine and food should be cleaned off, but to get a brighter, whiter smile, bleaching is a fantastic way to enhance your natural teeth. There are many different types of bleaching, so it is best to ask your dentist what options might be best for you. Another consideration is that bleach does not change the colour of existing fillings, so if you have old fillings, they may need to be replaced to match once you are happy with the final colour.
Tooth Shape And Position
A main concern for most people is the shape or position of the teeth. Teeth can be crowded, rotated or too spaced out. To line the teeth in a more desirable way, orthodontics can be used. Moving the teeth into a more favourable position may be all your teeth need. If the teeth shape still isn’t quite right, bonding material to teeth in a better position will result in less invasive and smaller fillings needed.
Types of Bonding
There are numerous different types of bonding that can be used to complete the smile transformation, including direct composite veneers or fillings, indirect ceramic or porcelain veneers and crowns. These are the typical options, and each have their advantages and limitations. There is more detailed information specifically regarding these options on our website or you can of course discuss which material is right for your teeth with your dentist.
A smile makeover starts with a quality conversation between you and your dentist. If we can identify your specific goals and desired outcome, often we can get a healthy, beautiful and natural smile that both you and your dentist love!
