Cosmetic Enhancement
Smile Enhancement
Everyone knows the importance of a smile. Smiles are instinctive, a universal sign of friendliness that even newborns recognize. An attractive smile goes a long way in getting you what you want; a new job, a pay hike, a new relationship etc.
Yet too often, our teeth deny us the benefits of a beautiful smile. They ruin our looks through discoloration, overlapping, crowding, gaps and chips. Fortunately, through cosmetic dentistry, all of these problems can be fixed.
Teeth Whitening
The number-one job of cosmetic dentistry today is whitening smiles darkened by coffee, tea, tobacco, red wine, or simply age. Whitening patients can choose from two routes to whiter teeth: at-home whitening or in-office whitening. Whitening is a safe procedure but may cause temporary sensitivity in teeth. The procedure may be repeated every 18 months.
Porcelain Veneers
Porcelain veneers are thin shells of ceramic fitted over your existing teeth to create a beautiful, natural-looking smile. Veneers are long-lasting, natural-looking and, because they are custom-made based on your needs, can cover up all kinds of problem teeth: chips, overlaps, "short" teeth, crooked teeth, and gaps. Best of all, veneers come in beautiful shades of white, fixing any discoloration worries you might have for years to come. Popular among celebrities, porcelain veneers are your ticket to a Glorious smile.
Composite Resin
Tooth coloured composite resins are sometimes a more conservative way to solve all problems that are solved but porcelain veneers like gaps in teeth, chipped teeth etc. they are relatively inexpensive and last for a lesser duration as compared to porcelain veneers.
Braces
Braces can correct a variety of tooth alignment problems, including gaps, crowding, overlaps, rotations, and crooked teeth. Braces apply pressure on the teeth to shift into a straighter, more attractive position. Usually, braces consist of brackets glued on to the teeth, and a wire. The wire puts tension on the teeth, forcing them to move, and the brackets hold the wire together. Orthodontists will sometimes request that teeth be pulled to make room for the new alignment. For those who hate the look of metallic braces an option of tooth coloured ceramic braces is also available.
Close Gaps in Teeth
Don't let holes ruin your smile. Let us tell you about the many cosmetic procedures that can seal your smile.
Braces
Braces have many uses—correcting crowded or overlapping teeth, for example, or closing gaps. Braces can close gaps by applying pressure on the teeth to move closer together. Patients can choose from metal, plastic or ceramic brackets. These brackets will be glued to the teeth and will hold the wire that places tension on the teeth in place. Note that plastic and ceramic brackets are much less conspicuous in appearance. For an even more natural look, the patient can wear lingual braces, where the brackets are glued to the back of the teeth.
The duration of the orthodontic treatment depends on the severity of the condition. Typically, a patient wears braces for up to one to two years. Once the braces are removed, a removable retainer holds the newly shifted teeth in place for the first few months after treatment.
Invisalign
Like braces, Invisalign closes gaps by applying pressure on teeth until they shift closer together. The advantage of Invisalign is its unnoticeable appearance. The system uses a series of clear, removable aligning devices. Each aligner is worn for two weeks, then replaced with the next one in the series. A computerized image of your teeth, generated at the beginning of treatment, determines the course of action for you to get the teeth you want. You can remove Invisalign when you eat, drink, and brush and floss your teeth—another factor contributing to its popularity among orthodontic patients.
Bonding
We can seal gaps in your teeth by applying plastic resin bonding to the surface of your teeth. After slightly roughening away part of your enamel, we will use special tooth coloured resins that will be sculpted on your teeth and shaped and polished to give you a glittering smile.
Porcelain Veneers
Porcelain veneers, thin ceramic casings fitted onto the tooth, can give you an all-new, natural looking smile. Because veneers are specially sculpted to give you the smile of your dreams, we can shape your veneers such that when placed atop your original teeth, the veneers will cover existing gaps. We will shave off part of your tooth enamel to create space for the casing, create a mold based on your existing teeth, and send this mold off to the lab where your custom-made veneers will be created. Once your veneers are ready, we will cement them to your teeth. Your smile will be straighter and, depending on the shade you choose for your new smile, whiter.
Repairing Chipped Teeth
Don't let chipped teeth ruin your smile—or the health of your teeth. Seemingly minor chips leave the tooth susceptible to further breakage. Protect your smile with one of the following options:
Bonding
A plastic resin, or bonding material, applied to your teeth can fix many imperfections, including chips. We will roughen your teeth and apply a special tooth coloured resin and sculpt it into an attractive shape that fits in with the look of the rest of your teeth. We will then polish your teeth to make sure the colour matches that of the rest of the teeth, as well.
Tooth Contouring & Reshaping
One of the few instant fixes cosmetic dentistry offers. We will remove a little of the existing tooth enamel (the outside covering of the tooth) and replace it with a little bonding to "sculpt" you a brand new look. After x-rays to ensure the tooth can sustain the procedure we will gradually remove small amounts of enamel with a sanding drill or laser. He or she will then shape the sides of your teeth with abrasive strips. Next, we will polish your teeth.
Porcelain Veneers
You can mask chipped teeth and whiten teeth all at once with porcelain veneers, natural-looking ceramic "masks" for your teeth. Veneers are like thin shells that we stick onto the front of your teeth and permanently hide all imperfections.
Porcelain Veneers
What are porcelain veneers?
Porcelain veneers, also termed veneers or porcelain laminates, are one of cosmetic dentistry's more recent developments. Porcelain veneers are wafer-thin shells of porcelain that can be bonded onto the front side of teeth to make a cosmetic improvement in the teeth's appearance. Porcelain veneers are routinely used to idealize teeth that are:
- Stained or discolored
- Worn
- Chipped
- Misaligned
- Alternative to orthodontic treatment
For decades dentists have had available to them materials that can create a durable bond to tooth enamel. These bonding materials are used to securely attach a thin sheet of porcelain (the porcelain veneer) to a tooth. Although porcelain is inherently brittle, when it is firmly bonded to a sturdy substructure (a tooth) it becomes very strong and durable.
Advantages of Porcelain Veneers
The use of porcelain veneers are gaining immense popularity due to the ease of applying one of these veneers on, and also the long-lasting benefits that porcelain veneers have in enhancing your appearance.
Realistic Appearance
One property of the teeth's enamel covering is that it is translucent. This means that when light strikes a tooth's surface it is not immediately reflected off, but instead penetrates into the thickness of the enamel. This property of translucency is an important part of what gives teeth their characteristic appearance. Historically the cosmetic dental bonding materials dentists have had available to them were only semi-translucent which didn't give a realistic appearance since the light striking the tooth did not penetrate into the bonding layer but instead was reflected off the bonding's outer surface. Although, the bonding improved the teeth, the sense of depth projection did not give the teeth its characteristic translucency. Porcelain veneers are glass-like, which have a great advantage over other types of cosmetic dental bonding by the fact that they are translucent. When they are bonded onto a tooth's surface they mimic the light handling characteristics of enamel. This translucency effect provides a sense of depth, and thus a very life-like appearance.
Resists Staining
In the past, cosmetic dental bonding materials were susceptible to staining and discoloring. This was especially a problem for those people whose teeth had excessive exposure to tea, coffee, red wine, or cigarette smoking. A significant advantage of porcelain veneers is related to the fact that a porcelain veneer's surface is just that, porcelain. Since porcelain is a ceramic, and therefore glass-like, its surface is extremely smooth and impervious - this means that the surface of a porcelain veneer will not pick up permanent stains.
Getting and Maintaining Porcelain Veneers
If you are investigating getting porcelain veneers, then you have come to the right site for comprehensive information that will allow you to make a better-informed decision. If you choose to follow through, the next step is to make a consultation appointment us. Only an examination by your dentist can determine if porcelain veneers are an appropriate method by which to make the changes you desire.
During the examination appointment you will need to convey to us list the types of changes you are interested in obtaining. We in turn will help you understand to what extent the changes you desire are possible. As a part of this examination we may need to take x-rays, photographs and impressions of your existing teeth.
Even if you find that porcelain veneers are not appropriate for your circumstances, we will most likely be able to suggest other treatment options that are suitable.
There are no hard and fast rules about how long porcelain veneers will last. While you can certainly expect your veneers to last many years, it is unrealistic to expect them to last forever. With good home care and by exercising good judgment, it seems likely that a porcelain veneer could last well in excess of ten years. Tips for maximizing the lifespan of your porcelain veneers include:
Practice good oral home care
Avoid exposing your porcelain veneers to excessive forces
Avoid clenching and grinding your teeth
Minimize staining influences ( uncontrolled smoking, tea/coffee intake)
Composite Fillings
The modern and esthetic alternative to traditional mercury (silver) fillings.
The Problem:
- Small to moderate decay on a portion of any tooth
- Desire to replace old-fashioned mercury (silver) fillings
- Desire to maintain a white, beautiful smile
There are only very few people who manage to avoid having cavity. If you're like majority of people you probably have experienced a cavity. The presence of a cavity requires us the decay and to fill in the tooth area that was removed in order to prevent further decay and strengthen the affected tooth. There have been lots of advances in modern dentistry that make this process much more comfortable and use materials that are safer and more esthetically pleasing.
Lots of people still have had amalgam fillings (silver) or gold filling restorations. Lots of these fillings contain mercury which is said to be poisonous to the body as well as the environment. We believe that the amounts of mercury in the fillings however are not significant enough to be a real threat but amalgam fillings are generally not as advantageous as composite fillings because they demand more of a tooth removal and are susceptible to corrosion.
Mercury fillings or amalgam fillings can easily be removed and replaced with far more attractive tooth colored fillings.
The Solution:
A composite filling is a tooth-colored material. After decay is removed, this resin material is layered into the tooth. Each layer is hardened with a blue light, and the final surface is shaped and polished to match the tooth. The final restoration is virtually invisible.
Advantages:
Composite fillings are more than just attractive. They are environmentally non-toxic because they use no mercury. They are stronger because they bond directly to the surface of the tooth. They protect the tooth from fracturing because they don't require the severe "undercuts" (removal of healthy tooth structure) of a mercury filling.
Disadvantages:
The initial investment in a composite filling is higher than that for a mercury filling. This is due to the fact that the composite material is more expensive and the restoration is more difficult and time consuming to place. However, this initial higher investment is offset in the long run by the reduced likelihood of needing to restore the tooth again due to fractures or degraded margins.
Alternatives:
Inlays or onlays are excellent alternatives to composite fillings and offer increased durability when the cavity is moderate to large. In cases of extensive decay, onlays or crowns are the only alternative.
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